End of a battle, beginning of a war
by notcreativeenoughtomakeone
Summary: The day after xana escaped, a strange boy who claims to be Aelita's cousin comes out of the scanner.While waiting for xana to attack,relationships form and new threats arise as the conspirasy of the computer is slowly unraveled.
1. Incoming Transfer

**Disclaimer-I Don't own code lyoko.**

Yesterday all hell had broken loose. Jeremie, Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi had to painfully watch as the scyphozoa drained Aelita's memory and she fell to the ground in sector five. Suddenly every tower in Lyoko lit red and a giant cloud of black smoke lifted into the air to freedom. The virtual world of lyoko was dead, and its guardian with it. Jeremie put his head down as a single tear hit the ground at his feet. Aelita was gone.

As sudden as lyoko died, it lived again. The towers went from red to white and a bright light lifted Aelita in the air. Everything she had taken away from her, came back. Her lost memories of her human life she never remembered she had. Xana stole them to keep her linked to him. She opened her eyes and everyone let out a sigh of relief. Xana had one, but as the kids saw it, he only one a battle, the war had just started.

At breakfast the next morning, all five sat at their usually table, acting natural. Noone else had a clue how dangerous the world had just become. They just complained about stuff that really didn't need to be complained about. Movies, books, tv, cute classmates, it was just a regular day for them. For the others, they hadn't had a regular day since they turned the computer on. Fighting for their lives and the lives of others. Risking life and limb to save those who wouldn't remember being saved.

They all sat there with, saying nothing though everyone had something to say. Finally Jeremie said, " We need to decide what to do with the computer."

" I say we turn it off. Xana lives no matter what we do it," said Ulrich.

" I agree," said Yumi, supporting Ulrich's idea.

" Hold on guys. The computer could very well be our only weapon against him now. I say we play this by ear," said Odd who had finished his breakfast before anyone started.

" Odd, it could xana's weapon as well," Ulrich said to his friend.

" No Ulrich Odd's right, as weird as that sounds. Xana won't be using the computer. He's free, he has not use for it. And right now the only way I see us beating him is getting him back in the computer and shutting it off," Jeremie said.

" I say we vote. Who's for turning it off?" Ulrich asked everyone. Ulrich and Yumi raised their hands. " Keep it on." Jeremie, Odd, and Aelita raised their hands. " Oh well, we tried Yumi."

The five were in the lab later that day, trying to see if anything on lyoko had changed. Everything seemed so baron and empty. Jeremie found no changes though, everything was how it should be, without xana in the equation. They were turning to leave when an alert appeared on the screen and they all faced the computer. Jeremie sat back down and opened the alert. " Incoming transfer?" Jeremie said allowed. " Whatever it is, its materializing."

" Should I check the scanner room?" Yumi asked. Jeremie nodded and Yumi boarded the elevator with Ulrich who decided to go with her. " What do you think it is?" Yumi asked Ulrich. Ulrich just shrugged and the door closed. The elevator opened and Ulrich and Yumi stepped into the scanner room and stood outside of the closed scanner.

" It's here," Jeremie said over the intercom. The doors opened and for a moment all they saw was mist. Suddenly a body fell through the mist and hit the floor hard. The body landed on its back and was unconscious. Yumi and Ulrich looked down at the body's face. It was only a kid. Not much older than them. His hair was long, to his chin, light brown and curly. He had freckled cheeks. He was the kinda cute guy that every girl had a crush on.

" Is he alive?" Ulrich asked Yumi who crouched down next to the boy. She placed her middle and index fingers on his neck and nodded. A moment the boy opened his eyes and looked at Yumi. He swung his arm and tripped Yumi who fell to the ground. Yumi fell to her chest and the boy rolled over, grabbed her arm, and pinned her to the ground.

" Who do you work for?" the boy shouted at her. Ulrich swung at the boy who ducked under his blow and elbowed him in the stomach. He fell back, holding his stomach, trying to cough. " Who do you work for?" he asked again.

" Get off me!" Yumi shouted. She elbowed his ribs and he rolled off her. Yumi rose to her feet and the boy charged again and Yumi grabbed his shoulders, rolled backwards and flung him over her. The boy hit the wall and fell to the ground, angry. He rose to his feet and charged her again. He tackled Yumi to the ground and pinned her shoulders down. The boy was about to yell something before Ulrich swung a metal pole into the back of his head. It knocked him unconscious and he fell on top of Yumi. Ulrich pushed him off Yumi with his foot and helped her up.

" You okay?" Ulrich asked her. Yumi nodded and looked down at the attacker. " Think it's xana?"

" Let's take him up. We'll tie him up and ask him when he wakes up."


	2. Aelita's cousin

The boy opened his eyes and the first thing he felt was an extremely painful headache. Every time his heartbeat went off, he felt it pound in his head. He groaned and moved his hands to hold his head. His hands wouldn't move, they were bound by chains. Lifting his head up, his vision was still blurry as he tried to focus his vision. He knew where he was. He was in the lab, and looking at the holomap in the center of the room. The boy heard people talking and turned in that direction. Yumi turned around and saw him looking at them. " He's awake," She said and everyone looked over to him.

The group walked over to him and Ulrich crouched down next to him. Ulrich looked into his eyes, he was looking for something, and didn't see it. " The eye of xana isn't in his pupils."

" Who do you work for?" The boy asked.

" We don't work for anyone," Odd said. " What are you talking about?"

" If you know about this lab, then you have to be with some branch of the government. Who sent you, and why?"

" Noone sent us. If you want to know, we're just a bunch of stupid kids who stumbled onto the lab by mistake. How do you know about it?" Jeremie asked.

" Whatever. Where are they?" The boy asked, looking angry about something.

" Where's who."

" Franz and Aelita Hopper. My uncle and cousin where are they?" Everyone looked at each other. They didn't know what to think. " Where are they?" Aelita appeared from behind Jeremie and the boy went silent. " Aelita?" Aelita kneeled next to him to examine his face.

" I know you, but I'm having trouble remembering," Aelita moved a little, and everyone else got tense at how close she was to the dangerous stranger. Aelita put up a hand to stop them and kept looking at him. " Damien."

" Where's your father, what the hell happened?"

" Calm down Damien, the government closed the case years ago. You've been in lyoko for roughly twelve years." Damien was looking at her face to see if she joking.

" Twelve years. You can't be serious," Aelita nodded. " Where's your father?"

" We don't know. Still in the computer we think, but he might be dead."

" Not to interrupt," Odd began, " But how do you two know each other?"

" Odd. He's my cousin. My real cousin, my fathers brothers son." Everyone looked to each other to answer this. Aelita undid his chains as they fell to the floor and Damien rubbed his arms to get circulation back. " He's not dangerous, just confused at the moment." Aelita helped Damien up and he looked at everyone, who looked at him.

" Sorry about earlier, I thought you were government," Damien said to Ulrich and Yumi.

" Do we look like government?" Yumi asked with a little humor in her voice.

" No, no you don't. Neither did my father." Damien and everyone else talked for half an hour about his connection with Aelita and Lyoko. Damien started by saying, " The reason I know about the lab, is because I helped build it."

" That can't be right. In his diary Franz Hopper never mentioned you," Jeremie said responded.

" I asked him to keep my involvement in the project anonyms. It took us seven years, but with being able to go back in time technically it was only about a year."

" Why were you involved, and how did you help?"

" My father was the one who create the project Carthage, which I'm sure you all know about." They all nodded. " I knew what he was doing. The government was going to use it as a weapon, so me and my uncle built the computer, lyoko, the scanners, and sadly xana. My father caught on and sent some people after us. They arrived first and had already sent themselves into lyoko. I followed a little later. Right when I got in xana got me. He saved me onto a file and put me in sector five, and when xana was freed and Franz Hopper and control for a moment, He reopened that file and materialized me."

" How did you help?"

" My uncle may be a genius on working with computers. But I'm the genius of putting them together. I built the system and he programmed it." Jeremie and the others asked him questions about the computer for another hour before they decided to stop. " Alright. I'll stay here tonight and start making myself some fake information, which shouldn't be hard, I'll find my old info and add to it." Damien spent the entire night creating his information, and then saved it to a folder and emailed the necessary information to the school for his registration for the classes next year.

The next morning Damien woke up as the elevator came down into the lab. Laying up he looked over to them as they stepped off the elevator. Damien took his seat and checked the email account he left yesterday, and opened the one left by the school. " I have an interview next week with Mr. Delmas, is he cool?" he asked hoping to have a nice principle. Everyone nodded. Mr. Delmas did let them get away with quite a bit.

" Wait your uncle taught at Kadic. Did yo go there before?" Jeremie asked.

Damien shook his head and answered, " No. I graduated already. Before the whole lyoko thing started I was in my first year of college."

" How old are you?"

" Fifteen. But people say I look about fourteen so I should be able to pull this off."

A week later Damien went for his interview with Mr. Delmas, Damien saying his parents couldn't make it. After the meeting he was officially a boarder for next years classes, and the summer school course. The summer came and the entire group asked their parents for summer school classes. Ulrich father was going to suggest it, Odd parents could care less, Jeremie's parent's were expecting that. Yumi's parents said no, but because she live in town that wasn't really a problem, and Aelita really didn't have a choice. About five percent of the school stayed for summer school, so only about fifty people were there.

School ended and Damien moved in. He had a dorm across the hall from Ulrich and Odd's, and would be alone until the school year started. Damien unpacked his clothes that he bought with a loan from everyone. Xana was still quiet and everyone was on edge. But at least when things got hot, they had more help to get them out of the fire.


	3. A boring start

Summer school was boring for all of them for all of them. Ulrich because Yumi wasn't with them, Odd because every girl in the school heard of his reputation, Jeremie because xana wasn't showing himself, and for Aelita because Jeremie was to preoccupied with xana to notice her. Damien was fairly neutral with everything and everyone. Aelita and the others helped him adjust to the new times, which he was doing well. He mainly observed the new common phrases, like 'Cool' and 'Rad' which he heard less commonly than cool but quite a bit still.

Yumi got a visitors pass to see them on the weekends, and called them everyday, everyone around Ulrich cell phone that was on speaker. It was only recently Ulrich noticed that next year Yumi wasn't going to be at Kadic, she'd be a the highschool down town. And after this year he'd be going to highschool in Germany, at home. Odd didn't think much of it, because to him thinking made less time for action. Jeremie was working nonstop to predict xana's attack. It was starting to form a social boundary between him and the rest of the world. They took the classes and stayed on their toes.

Summer ended and xana still hadn't even made a sign of reappearing. Jeremie had several theories on this. He was taking his time to plan, he wanted to wait them out till Yumi wasn't with them, or that he was weaker. Noone believed him but after the analogy he gave them they thought it could have been possible. He compared xana to a baby in the womb. The baby is given everything it need, nutrients, heat; like the computer was giving xana his necessary fuel to survive. Using the keys of Lyoko to free himself, all he did was cut the cord and force himself to self sustain. They all hoped it was the weak one.

It was the last day of summer and everyone was hanging out in Ulrich and Odd's room. Yumi and Ulrich were sitting on his bed, Odd on his, with Aelita there as well leaning against the wall petting kiwi. Jeremie was on the chair was Ulrich's desk, and Damien was on the chair for Odd's. Yumi was telling them what to prepare for with the ninth grade. She said most of the classes were descent. The only bad thing was for a semester they had to take health. Ulrich just shrugged and said how bad could it be. Yumi answered, " Ulrich, sex ed is part of health." It was pretty after all. Odd just shrugged, as Aelita asked what sex was. Everyone snickered, Odd especially.

Classes started in the morning as the mail came around the school, giving everyone their schedules. Geometry, nine grade physics and chemistry, gym, lunch, art, history, and of course health. Ulrich and Jeremie got lucky to received health second semester, Odd and Aelita however weren't as fortunate. But at least they had together and not at separate periods, but then again that could be a bad thing. None the less Odd shook it off and went to class. At least sex ed started next quarter.

Jeremie's grades started low. His paranoia about xana made him spend every extra minute on the computer. His homework was shoved aside, and his friends. They became worried him. Jeremie would insure he was fine, but everyone knew he wasn't. Damien's start at Kadic was a cake walk for him. He aced every test in every subject. This was child's play for him. He was a college level student in ninth grade. He had health first semester but not in the same hour as Aelita and Odd. It was worse for him in everyone's opinion, because he had Sissi in his class.

The first time Damien met Sissi his first reaction was, " She's bitchalicious." Everyone laughed except for Aelita who had really never heard anyone swear. She had her human memories back now, but she was now a twelve year old again, and still as clueless as ever. Odd filled her in on what swears were and told her not to use them in class or around adults, but when she did, use them in anger or when it's really amusing. Jeremie didn't really like what Odd was teaching her, but then again he was to glued to his computer to find time to worry about it.

After a month, xana still hadn't shown himself or any sign of returning. Jeremie was certain he was planning his next move, waiting for the most opportune moment to strike. Then he thought about not being able to deactivate towers to stop him, they needed something new. Jeremie worked in the lab for the rest of the quarter and created a way to remotely active a time reversal through his laptop. They tried it once with success and Jeremie spent less time in the lab. Everyone was on edge, and things kept getting weirder.


	4. Damien's powers

Yumi and Ulrich were with the distance, getting further away, and it was really pissing him off. Because now they only hung out on weekends for about two hours, but at least William wasn't there to interfere. Last year he was only a border, so naturally he was attended high school wherever he lived. It wasn't like olds time at all. Ulrich was hoping xana would attack, so at least he'd be able to see Yumi. Yumi was feeling the same way, though not nearly as desperate as he was. When she'd visit, it was definitely like old times though. Both wanting to say something, but both wouldn't. It was awkward and she'd leave his company unsatisfied.

Before xana was free Aelita would spend most of her free time with Jeremie, but now he no free time, she spent it with Odd. They talked about what could happen later, what the hell was wrong with Jeremie, made bets on when Ulrich and Yumi will stop dragging their feet and do something, and he taught her more about how to be normal. At first she felt like she was pretending to be human. Then when she found out she really was human, she tried harder to get that life back. " How old were you before this happened?" Odd asked curiously.

" I think I was twelve, and about to be thirteen. So right now I'm thirteen I'd guess. How old are you?"

" I turned fourteen a month ago, don't you recall wishing me a happy birthday?" he asked.

" Oh yeah. I'm sorry there's just so much going on right now. But at least health is interesting."

" Yeah and next week we start we start sex ed. That'll be fun."

" Noone has told me about that yet, said I should just wait and see."

" Advise, don't ask questions in that class. You'll just embarrass yourself."

" I'll remember that."

Damien was getting bored with his classes. When he was younger school was a little more challenging. Nothing that isn't challenging is fun. All he did was read and sleep now. He talked with his cousin about things she remembered. It also bothered him that because of their situation, he wasn't her cousin, because Odd was. That bothered him, because when growing up he'd use the term cuz a lot and now it was seen as weird. " You know Aelita, I'm bored." Damien said from laying off his bed upside down.

" Really, what do you want to do?" Aelita asked looking down at him.

" Anything but nothing. I'd play soccer but I'd kill them in it. I'd run but I ran yesterday. I'd read but I have nothing to read. Our decade was much more eventful."

" I wouldn't know really, but I'll take your word for it." A moment later Jeremie burst into the room excited about something. " What's up?" Aelita asked, remembering that term from Odd.

Jeremie looked at Damien awkwardly by the way he was sitting. Remember why he was there he said, " I think I found him."

" Found who?"

" Franz Hopper." Damien lost his balance and fell of the bed, looking up at Jeremie upside down.

" You found my father?" Aelita shouted in happy surprise. Jeremie nodded, " Then what the hell are waiting for," she shouted, also learning that from Odd. They ran out of the room and to the lab, calling the others when they arrived. Jeremie said he found him in sector five so sent them to lyoko. Aelita virtualized in lyoko and looked around, the first time she was in her since xana escaped. A moment later Damien dropped from above as well. Aelita looked at his lyoko attire. It was casual clothing, tennis shoes, jeans, and a t-shirt. " Nice outfit."

" Thanks. Don't let it fool you though, I'm fairly strong in lyoko."

" What are your powers?"

" I can pull weapons put of my body, like this." Damien placed his hand on his chest and pushed into it. His had was pushed into his chest, and when he was pulling it out, he was holding the hilt of a sword. Slowly he removed the sword from his body and showed it to her. " Neat huh."

" Actually, it's kinda gross." Damien laughed and to make her grossed out, shoved the sword back into his chest, in which it vanished. Aelita just looked at him disgusted. A moment later, Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd virtualized and dropped from above.

" Where we heading Einstein?" Odd asked.

" Sector five, go to the edge of the sector, due north." The five ran to the edge of the desert sector and Jeremie typed in Scipio and they were on their way. When the ball dropped them off, Odd complained about a stomachache and then they ran into the core. " Get going guys, the keys on the roof." They ran into the room and looked at the ceiling.

" I see it," Ulrich said pointing up. Everyone looked up and saw it as well. " Any idea's?"

" I have one. Ulrich I'll use my powers to lift you up." Ulrich nodded and Yumi held her temples and began to glow white. Ulrich slowly lifted up in the air and was slowly moving toward the key on the ceiling. Everyone just kinda watched as she lifted him closer and closer. Xana wasn't in the computer anymore, so noone could stop them. Then suddenly a laser hit Yumi in the back as Ulrich fell back to the ground. Everyone turned around as five creepers began to fire at them.

" Jeremie? What's going on, xana isn't in the computer anymore. Why are the creepers here?" Odd asked, diving out of the way, then cartwheeling to the left.

" I don't know. Maybe the creepers are just part of this sector, and not part of xana, programmed to attack invaders."

" They have the eye Jeremie. Xana is up to something." Damien reached into his chest and pulled out a sword, the same one he pulled out in front of Aelita. It was short, double edged razor sharp weapon. Ulrich cloned himself and charged one, two of the clones getting hit before he stabbed the creeper. Yumi sent a fan flying, but before it hit a laser deflected it back. Odd fired a laser arrow that hit on square in the head.

Damien was trapped between two. He stood sideways to make himself a smaller target. Extending his arm toward one of them, it didn't start to shot, it stood frozen. The other began to fire at Damien, who deflected the shot with the sword without looking at it. The other began to shake, but didn't fire. It began to alter shape, then it floated in the air and hovered toward Damien, who was still deflecting shots. The creeper turned into a thin line and began to sink into Damien's chest like the sword had earlier. Damien began to glow blue before he swung his sword the gust of the swing so strong it sliced straight through the last two.

Damien looked at everyone, who was awe struck at what he had just done. He shrugged as Jeremie said, " Twenty seconds." Odd looked at the wall and began to scale it with his claws. He reached the roof and leaped off the wall, " Ten seconds." He missed the key and swore to himself. Damien swung the sword up and the gust knocked Odd back up. He was beginning to devirtualize as he hit the key with five seconds left on the timer. " Good work guys. Damien what was that, you absorbed the monster, your life points were over a hundred."

" My powers on lyoko are a little stronger than theirs." The doors opened and the four ran to the next areas. They took the elevator around the sphere and docked, as another door opened. Aelita ran into the room and began to use the terminal to check the information.

" What am I looking Jeremie?" Aelita asked.

" Human data that isn't ours." Aelita scanned the system for a minute before Jeremie said, " The mantis are hatching, which is strange because xana isn't here and yet they are. Hurry it up Aelita." Damien placed the sword at his chest which he used as the swords sheath and shoved it back into himself. He kept his hand in and a moment later, pulled out a pistol. Ulrich watched in disgust like Aelita had, Yumi thought is was cool. Damien shot at the first mantis, which exploded, as Ulrich and Yumi began to block lasers from hitting themselves and Aelita. Damien extended his arm out again, a moment later a mantis shot and destroyed another mantis before crashing into the wall.

" I can absorb and manipulate xana spawn. Are you done Aelita?"

" Not yet." A mantis laser hit her in the chest as she fell back to the ground. Yumi hit the mantis with the fan as Damien jumped to the terminal.

" I thought only Aelita could do that," Yumi said, watching Damien sort through the information.

" Yumi, I helped build the computer. So of course I have some control over it when in it, I just don't have one of the keys, but I'm capable of doing this, just not using towers." Damien said, popping up a few screens after deleting a few more. " Got it, sending it to now."

" Here's your vehicles," Jeremie said as the overwing, overbike, and the overboard materialized in front of them. Yumi took the overwing, Ulrich and Aelita the overbike, and Damien took the overboard. " The exit is open, north tunnel." They rode out of sector five, dropped, and Jeremie pulled them back.

Jeremie ran through the information on what Damien had sent him. It looked solid at first but the deeper Jeremie got, the worse it was. After an hour of work Jeremie told them what he found. " Everyone, we found Franz Hopper, but as we feared he's gone."

" How?" Aelita asked on the verge of tears.

" When he saved you he gave up his virtual DNA code, because xana took yours. I can materialize him, but he would be an empty shell. A body without a mind. The mind controls vital functions, so he wouldn't last minutes if we pulled him out now. And xana doesn't have the information, Aelita does. But she can't give her father the material without killing herself."

" So basically your saying, he sacrificed himself," Yumi said.

" Yes."

" Jeremie is there anyway?" Aelita asked Jeremie, because to her he could so anything.

" It's a long shot, but with lyoko the possibilities are endless. Maybe if we stole your virtual code back, other than that I don't see a way."Aelita turned away from everyone, and began to cry. Damien placed his hand on her shoulder. She turned around and hugged him tightly.

" We'll get him back." Damien said softly, though he knew how near impossible that was.


	5. Fun filled questions and uninvited guest

_I was reading this over, when I noticed, when I submitted this chapter, half of it was missing! So I found it, and added it. This is chapter 5 revision. Thus why it was titled, ' uninvited guests', meaning William._

A week later Yumi was at the highschool walking through the halls, turning off to open her locker. Yumi took out her math book, replacing it with her science, then shut her locker. A boy was leaning against the locker next to hers. It scared her and she jumped back fumbling her book in her hands. After her heart rate went down she said, " William?" William smiled.

" Hey, surprise."

" What are you doing here, aren't you taking highschool at home?"

" I live here now. My dad got a new job in town and we had to move. Now you wouldn't happen to know where this classroom is?" He asked handing her his schedule. Yumi read it over, discovering they had the same lunch and math.

" Yeah, I'm going there right now, just follow me." William and Yumi walked together to math, then after that to lunch. Yumi told him everything he need to know about the high school, and he told her what he'd been up to recently. His high school at his old town was fairly cool to him, but when he found out he'd be coming here and attending the same highschool as Yumi, well who cares how cool it was.

Because it was Friday Yumi went to visit everyone at the school. When Ulrich heard that William was back, he almost lost it. He now only saw Yumi once a week, which meant for the other days William had his chance. Ulrich left that meeting early, contemplating homicide against William. He had a brilliant plan, or a least he though it was brilliant. Poison, gunshot, piano from a roof. After an hour he gave up and went to sleep.

Damien was interested in hearing more about William. After Yumi told Damien about him, Damien came up with this conclusion. " He sounds like a punk."

" He's not a punk. He just doesn't like rules."

" My point, he's a punk like every other asshole I had to put up with in highschool. I was only in highschool for a year but still had the assholes."

" Say what you want about him Damien, I know him better than you do."

Damien shrugged her off and went to the lab to pull up a record search on William Dunbar. After an hour of sorting through all the William Dunbar, he manage to pull up his record. It was one hell of a record. Smiling to himself he called Yumi and told her to go to the lab.

The elevator opened and Yumi stepped out and into the lab. " This better be good." Yumi said as she stepped to the computer.

" Oh it is. I was right, William is a punk. Check it out." Yumi looked at the screen. " Says here he did a year in a juvenile center, and after that got expelled from his school before coming to Kadic."

" The love letters right?"

" There were never any love letters. Your dear William got caught stealing from a classmate's locker." Yumi read it herself.

" Why would he lie to me?"

" Are you kidding me. Your not really buying into his bs are you? He's the kinda guy who'll say anything to get your pants off."

" Not William."

" Yes William. He's a punk Yumi. Advise, stay away from him, right here he has a few charges from sexual harassment. Let's just say he isn't interested in your personality." Yumi closed the screen.

" I know William is different now. So I don't care what you think about him." Yumi walked away and boarded the elevator.

" Yumi, Yumi, Yumi. Why want William when Ulrich is right in front of you waving a flag."

* * *

That same day Aelita walked into her health class and took a seat in the front row. Odd was already there, sitting behind her. Their names were next to each other alphabetically so they sat next to each other. Today Odd wanted class to start. It was the beginning of the new quarter and the start of sex ed. This was going to be fun, Odd thought to himself. When Aelita sat down she turned around in her desk and asked, " Alright Odd, now are you going to tell me why everyone is nervous about this class?"

" No. Half the fun." Aelita rolled her eyes, another thing Odd had taught her. " Remember don't ask questions. If you have to, ask Yumi."

" Why Yumi?"

" Because if you ask a guy, he'll get nervous and avoid the question and Yumi wouldn't mind helping." The bell rang and Aelita turned back around and faced the front. To everyone's surprise Yolande the school nurse walked in instead of Jim. See looked at everyone as everyone began private conversations. " Where's Jimbo?" Odd asked.

" Mr. Morales doesn't teach second quarter of health. The board of directors find it a little more appropriate for a female teacher in this class than a male. So for the next nine weeks, I'll be teaching the class and Mr. Morales will be tending to the injured when I'm not teaching."

Everyone celebrated about that. They didn't feel comfortable leaning sex ed as it was, and Jim didn't make that easier. Personally they'd rather be taught by their parents. Yolande began by giving them the basic schedule of education she had planned out. First abstinence, then std's, followed by protected sex and birth control, and leaving off with a project for the end of the semester. The entire class Aelita's head was swarming with questions, but she kept her mouth shut, wrote them down, and decided to ask Yumi about them later.

Here's Aelita's list of questions to ask Yumi.

1. What are std's?( checked marked because Yolande explained them in a way she understood.)

2. What is the action of sex?

3. What is birth control and why do you use it?

4. What is puberty?

5. What does love have to do with sex?

6. Why does Odd not want me to ask questions?

7. Why is it more appropriate for a women to teach sex ed rather than a man?

She had a few more question but couldn't think of a way to put them into writing. The bell rang and everyone left the room, leaving Aelita finishing her last question. Someone walked by and read the list over her shoulder, and laughed at it. She didn't know why he was laughing, so folded the sheet of paper and placed it in her pocket. Aelita grabbed her book and ran after Odd who was already on his way to lunch.

On the weekend, Aelita pulled out her list and showed it to Yumi when she managed to get her alone. Yumi looked down at the list, back up to Aelita, back at the list, then smiled. Finally something she could help her with. A few facts she need to know about life, before she committed social suicide. Yumi and Aelita sat down in her room, and she began to explain things to her, receiving a few gasps and gross expressions that left her not looking at anyone the same anymore, even herself.

" Humans are strange creatures Yumi," Aelita said to her, still a little grossed out.

" Well you are one, so this applies to you as well."

" Never thought I wouldn't mind being not human." Yumi laughed, then left her room, having to get home. Ulrich was a little mad about her talking to Aelita, because it took her time away from him. Odd told her what they were talking about, and decided not to complain, thinking it better that Yumi settled it quickly before Aelita couldn't contain herself and asked one of them. He was glad that Yumi saved them an awkward moment.

Damien was spending much of his time in the lab. He didn't skip class to get there, but spent most of his free time working. He scanned files, looking for any sign of Aelita's virtual DNA code. Xana had hid it well or had taken it with him. Then he came up with a brilliant idea, and called everyone to the lab.


	6. Base rule

_Been quite awhile since I updated this one. I lost interest after lack of reviews. Then I got one out of the blue, so said, why not go on._

The group entered the lab to see Damien with his feet propped up on the key board with a bag of chips on the arm rest. Jeremie saw that and said, " What are doing, you could damage the computer."

" It's my computer." Damien said, licking the chip remains off his fingers. Wiping them on a napkin everyone gathered around the screen as Damien waited for them to get a good seat. " I came up with a idea that since finding her code could be damn near impossible, that perhaps copying Hopper's may be easier."

" Copying a virtual DNA strand. That's a lot of work. You can't use a program to do it. It needs to be done manually, do you have any idea how long that would take?" Jeremie said to him.

" Not nearly as long as it took you to realize she didn't have a virus." Damien said to Jeremie. " There is only a slight difference to a detachment and a attachment program. But a noticeable one. If actually knew what you were doing, this would of ended a long time ago."

" I know what I'm doing."

" Really Jeremie. I could have found her materialization program in ten minutes. You never bothered to check the computer for old files. If you had you'd would of found out she was human and got her back sooner. But no, you had to do it the long way, the Jeremie way."

" How was I supposed to know."

" Then marabounta attacked Aelita not because of the virus," He said, making virus stand out, " But because when in lyoko, the keys have similar programming to xana spawn. Then you try to make a mind helmet to get smarter. Even as you were dying, you still used it, and you knew what it was doing to you. It takes someone pretty stupid to do that." Jeremie stared him down, then walked back to the elevator.

" Jeremie," Aelita said as the doors closed. " That wasn't nice Damien."

" It was fair. Now go in the scanner so I can get a sample of the DNA." Aelita looked at him angry. " Please get in the scanner." Aelita rolled her eyes and went to the scanners. She came back up as Damien ran through the data.

" How long is this going to take?" Yumi asked.

" About three minutes." Damien said. Yumi looked at him amazed.

" Three minutes. Jeremie said it'd be months."

" If your Jeremie it takes a few months. He knows processes, just not the full extent of how they work like me. I built the lab, I know short cuts. Start copying now." He pressed enter and waited a few seconds as a green plus sign with a circle around it appeared. " Boo ya."

Jeremie walked back to school angry at Damien. He had just insulted him. Most people couldn't care less about being told your bad at using a computer, but for Jeremie it was very insulting. ' For the next five months, he'll be on that project. No help from me.' He said to himself. ' He'll come begging for help.' His cell phone rang and he said, " Begging already."

" What?" Aelita asked him. " Never mind, Damien's already copied the data."

" That's impossible."

" Obviously not Jeremie. He's just more experienced with using the computer than you are nothing more. Your still a genius." Jeremie let that sink in for a moment. He knew he was a genius. Compared to Damien he wasn't, but compared to everyone else he was. And Damien was on the good side, just helping like everyone else was.

" Alright, well I need to go back, tell me how it turns out." Aelita sighed, knowing she couldn't get Jeremie back to the lab.

" Okay. See you later."

" Bye," Jeremie hung his phone and kept walking to the school. Aelita looked at Damien as he began to try and attach the DNA to Franz Hoppers body. After the download was complete, he received a negative sign in red.

" What the hell." Damien said, leaning in closer. " Not a match. The code he gave you wasn't his." Aelita looked at him strangely.

" What are you talking about?"

" Wish I knew. This is weird, who else knew, where could of he got that code from. This is an all nighter." Damien said cracking his knuckles, getting prepped for an all night search session. " You guys can leave if you want, I'll just be typing and scanning the system all night." Ulrich and Yumi left first, Ulrich walking her home, and not doing anything the entire way.

Odd and Aelita began to walk back to the dorms together, leaving Damien to his work. Walking her to her room she invited him in for a few minutes, wanting to talk before he left. They sat on her bed for a few minutes as Aelita's mind was swarming with questions. Today in Health she heard a phrase about teen life she'd never heard from her peers. " Odd, what's the base rule." She asked him. Odd looked at her nervously. ' she had to ask me.'

" A um.. Dating rule." Aelita lifted an eyebrow up when she looked at him.

" That's really helpful," She said sarcastically.

" A step process, every step more complicated than the first."

" So what're the steps?" ' She just keeps asking questions.' Odd ran through his head whether or not to tell her. And if he did tell her, how to do it. He decided to tell her, thinking it fair for him to explain a few things instead of leaving it all for Yumi.

" Do you know what a french kiss is." Aelita nodded, she knew that much at least. " That's first base, there are a total of four bases."

" What's second base." Odd had to think of how to explain that one. He needed a friendly word to explain it.

" A massage." He answered, though he failed to mention where to rub.

" And third." ' oh shit.' How could this be said friendly and G rated. He wasn't like Yumi, he couldn't give her a detailed speech like, ' the oral stimulation of your sexual partners genitalia.' It was much more awkward for him to tell her, he didn't have the relation with Aelita that Yumi had, girl on girl. Everything is open between them and nothing is awkward. For Odd it was a whole different story.

" A different kind of massage," Odd said to her. Aelita knew that was a little awkward for him to say so didn't push it.

" Forth?"Odd found it strange that this was easier to explain than the last one.

" Having sex."

" Oh," Aelita said to him quietly.

" It's usually called home."

" I get it," She said, blushing slightly from embarrassment. It wasn't any easier for her to ask the question.

" Well, I best be going." Aelita nodded. Odd got to the door as Aelita suddenly changed her mind on letting him leave. Odd opened the door as Aelita reached around him and shut it. Odd turned around to see his body in between her arms, trapping him. " What are you doing?" Aelita smiled at him nervously.

" I don't know to be honest." Aelita said to him. Odd looked back at her for a few seconds before deciding to say something.

" Can you figure it out fairly soon, because I need to go to sleep, so do you." Aelita just looked at him and leaned in. It took Odd a moment after her lips were on his to realize what she was doing. Odd grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back. " What are you doing?"

" You told me to figure out."

" We can't do this. Jeremie, not to mention your supposed to be my cousin."

" Well I'm not your cousin." Odd sighed.

" I know that, but the school doesn't. If they see us, they'll call my parents and find out your not my cousin, then what?" Aelita just looked at him. She seemed a little disappointed him. " They'll ask questions, find the lab, and everything we've been up to. I'm not worth that risk." Aelita just kept looking at him. She kissed him again. " Stop." She ignored him and tried again. Odd not wanting to hurt her, but had to get her away, pushed her back hard enough to make her fall to the floor. " What about Jeremie?"

" Jeremie is to busy for me, not to mention not that interesting. You are." Odd shook his head then sat on her bed, knowing he'd have to explain this to her better.

" On any other circumstance I would, but this isn't a good circumstance." Aelita stood up from the ground and sat next to him.

" Then give me at least one experience from you that will stay with me. A first kiss."

" You've already kissed Jeremie."

" It doesn't count if the other person isn't kissing back. Kiss me back, then you can go." Odd looked at her then looked at the door. It seemed to be getting further and further away. Looking back at Aelita, he looked at how serious she was. Aelita licked her lips as she stared at him, waiting for his response.

" Alright, just be quiet about it," Odd said before kissing her.


	7. A quick learner

Odd lead off by leaning his head towards Aelita's. Why was she so interested in kissing him Odd didn't know. What the reason was it was strong enough to make her force him into it. She wouldn't let hi leave her room without one. Aelita closed her eyes then leaned in towards him slowly. Odd was trying to find a way out of it the entire time, but after deciding he couldn't he closed his eyes.

A moment later Odd slightly tilted his head to make his way around her nose then to her lips. They met. At first, both were still, not moving. Then Aelita began to press her lips against his, but Odd stayed still. Remember what she wanted from him, she pressed harder, egging him on. To add more to it she placed on of her hand and the back of his head then wrapper her other arm around his neck. Odd still wasn't returning the kiss. Just before Aelita was thinking about stopping, he began to kiss.

Odd knew now, he could this kiss whenever he wanted to now that he had fulfilled Aelita's wants. He didn't stop. If this was going to be Aelita's first real kiss, he wanted it to be a good one. After a minute of kissing back, he tried to pull away, but Aelita's hand held his head still, not letting him go so easily. Stopping for a breath, Aelita turned her head and began another kiss. After this kiss, Odd figured soon she'd be asking for another first, so started it without asking.

Slowly, smoothly, but not forcefully, he slid his tongue passed his lips. At first Aelita didn't know what he was doing, but slowly she figured out. She let his tongue into her mouth, but didn't greet it right away. She was trying to figure out what to do, she even stopped pressing his lips to think clearer.

After Odd figured ten seconds of unanswered tongue meant not interested he stopped kissing her. Aelita's hands and body were weak from the experience, so her hand on his head had fallen to his shoulder. " Sorry," Odd said to her, " I should of asked."

" No. I wanted to, I just didn't know what to do," Aelita said as her excuse. " Can I try again?" Aelita had given him a choice. All he had to do was say 'no' and leave. After kissing her, she wasn't the only one who wanted more.

" Sure," Odd answered, " Practice makes..." He began, before Aelita retook her hand position behind his head, her hand shaky. She began to kiss him again and knew that he should lead off with the tongue. As smoothly as before he slid his tongue out of his mouth, passed his lips, passed Aelita's, and touched her tongue. Aelita hesitated for too long again and Odd pulled out. While their lips were still attached and Odd's tongue was retreating back into it's den, Aelita stopped hesitating and followed it with hers. Odd hadn't seen it coming, so didn't respond at first, but after a second, he began to massage her tongue with his, and she massaged right back. Odd was doing this gently because it was her first time, but she wasn't be gentle. It seemed she wanted the crash course of this learning processed, so Odd decided to give her the crash course.

Odd rubbed against her tongue harder than before. Deciding he couldn't do this without some hand use, he placed on hand on the side of her head, the other pulled her closer to him, giving a little more leverage. Once he was situated he forced the fight back into Aelita's mouth, where she fought back. For the next three minutes, they switched mouths, took a few breaths, went to regular kissing, then went back to wrestling, each trying to make the want it more. After Odd thought that he had met Aelita's need, though he felt like he did quite along while ago, he stopped the kiss.

Aelita let her hand slid to his shoulder as she opened her eyes. Her breathing was deep, both from the emotion and the physical concept of what had happened. They kept their faced closed as they looked into each others eyes, hoping one of them would start it again. Aelita touched her nose to his then simply said what was on her mind. " Wow." Odd smiled from her lack of words because she always had something to say. " I've been missing out."

" Not bad for a first time," Odd complimented her. " Your aggressive." He said with a smirk on his face. Aelita blushed redder than she already was then looked away from him. " I need to go." Odd stood up and touched the doorknob, hoping she'd try to stop him. Looking back at her he said, " Goodnight Aelita."

" Goodnight Odd." After noticing she was coming even with her end of the deal he opened her door and softly closed it behind him. Aelita fell back on her bed , resting her head on her pillow. Her lips still stung, her tongue was still sore, her breathing hadn't declined. Even when she kissed Jeremie this didn't happen. This kiss was longer, but the length shouldn't matter. Looking at her door, she hoped Odd would come back in. She had at first thought she wanted to kiss him for the experience, but after he left her alone in her room where the heat from his body was still lingering, she asked herself, ' Am I in love with him?'

---

Odd opened the door to his and Ulrich's dorm room, closing it behind him. Ulrich looked back from his desk as Odd kicked his shoes off and sat on his bed. " Why are you late from walking Aelita to her room?" Ulrich asked him. Odd looked at his friend and was trying to desperately think of an excuse.

" Um.. She lost Mr. Puck somewhere in her room, so I helped her look for it," Odd lied. Ulrich looked at him, then just shrugged and went back to his homework. Exhaling with relief Odd stood up from his bed and changed into his pajamas, then sat on his bed and began to pet Kiwi. Every time his mind wondered, it went to one place. For his entire life Odd had tried to date every girl he meet, his excuse being he was trying to find 'true love'. He had kissed them all, and felt nothing but their lips, no emotions ran through his mind and heart as he kissed them. If no other girl did this to him, why did Aelita.

His spine tingled, he was nervous, but even through the emotion, it felt right. It felt like fate and set him up to kiss her. He tried to ignore these feelings, not thinking they shouldn't be ignored. They were building and building till the point he couldn't even stand it. Waking up in the middle of the night he looked across from Ulrich then tried to fall asleep again. He couldn't. Sitting up he looked at Kiwi who was sleeping on his desk chair. Looking at the time, he saw that it was four in the morning. Sighing he walked over to his desk, moved Kiwi and began to do his homework.

---

Two weeks after kissing Aelita Odd's grades took a sudden incline. Since then he was having trouble sleeping because of her. Because of the kiss. To distract himself, he did his homework, he studied, and he passed. With Jeremie in his slump, he even managed to get a higher GPA than him. His grades going from F's and D's to C's and B's his teachers asked him why the sudden change in habit. He told them boredom.

Sometimes during notes in class, he'd have to erase, because he'd look down and see the incomplete picture he was drawing of Aelita. No one ever noticed him with his art, because he never took notes anyway. ' What the hell is wrong with me.' Odd asked himself. ' It was just a kiss.' Looking at his notes he'd see a heart with an O and an A within it's borders. Right then he knew it was more than just a kiss. Looking up from his paper he looked at the back of Aelita's head, not noticing she was trying not to look back at him. He folded the sheet of paper and slipped it into his pocket.

---

A month later Aelita was seeing if her training had paid off. Odd had taught her well and now she had to see if she was socially experienced enough to start and maintain a relationship. Wrapping her arms around her partner she made sure her door was locked before she started to kiss him. He walked her over to her bed while they were kissing, laying her on the bed then laying over her. After a minute he slipped his tongue into her mouth where it was greeted by hers.

Wrapping her arms around his back she pulled herself closer to him, making his body lower closer to hers. His chest was on hers now as Aelita continued to kiss like Odd had showed her. Everything he taught her was coming back. It was intense moment for her. The heat from his body was warming hers now, and she liked the warmth. The warmth of him, the warmth of his kiss It was incredible.

Stopping the kiss the boy looked at her and smiled. She returned the smile, then began to run her fingers through his hair. Thick, smooth, his hair was addicting. Odd hadn't told her anything about hair rubbing but she was good it. It was for her pleasure not his. Lowering down again he kiss her once then came back up but stopped only half as high as before. He had taught her well. " Your getting better," The boy said to her.

" Thanks, I learned from the best." Aelita said, before continuing to kiss Odd.


	8. Waiting

Odd thought it safe to say he had made a mistake. He was secretly dating Aelita. He'd been doing so, three weeks after he said he couldn't. That kiss he gave her was a lot longer than he thought it would be. He thought, five seconds tops, not a sweaty sloppy make out session. But him and Aelita, felt right. Not only to him, but to her, and the others besides Jeremie of course. He wouldn't understand.

Sitting in science tweeteling his thumbs, Odd looked up as Ms. Hertz stopped in front of him. Odd was expecting her to drop the F in front of him and keep walking, but she stood there and looked at him. Placing it in front of him he read it. B plus. Looking up at her she had a smile on her face. Odd had passed a test. He had done great on it no less. " Odd, do you know what happened when you got that grade?" She asked him. Odd shook his head.

" You made the top twenty in your class. Congratulations." She kept walking handing out graded tests as Odd just looked at the grade. ' Top twenty?'

" Good job Odd," Aelita said from behind him with a smile. Jeremie was next to her, and noticed the way she looked at him. He noticed it, because she no long looked at him that way, but now she looked at Odd that way. The test was placed in front of Jeremie who looked away from Aelita. D plus.

" Jeremie did you even study?" Ms. Hertz asked him. Jeremie shook his head. " You need to get out of this funk your in. Your digging a hole that you won't be able to climb out of." Jeremie just nodded as Ms. Hertz kept passing the papers back.. " We'll talk after class." Jeremie looked down at his test, then crumbled it into a ball.

---

The bell rang as everyone left their seats, except for Jeremie. Odd and Aelita said they'd meet him at lunch and walked away together. He noticed they even walked closer. Aelita was his, not Odds. And yet, he could feel her slipping away. Ms. Hertz opened the file cabinet and took out a folder and walked over to Jeremie. Placing it in front of him Jeremie saw that it was grade reports from the last two years. " Jeremie, since sixth grade, you've been the best in your class, highest ranked, a genius by most standards."

Sighing she placed down this years grade reports. It was only November and yet they had grade report every two weeks. " What happened here?" She asked, pointing at recent grades.

" I don't know."

" That's the problem Jeremie. Until you figure it out, and I know you can, I suggest you drop this class, and make it up in summer school." Jeremie looked at her and shook his head.

" I'm not going to summer school."

" Unless you figure out what is wrong, what is distracting you, I highly suggest it. I know the class isn't hard for you. I think you could teach this class. But unless you shake off what is holding you back, you are going to fail this class. Not only this class, every other class your not doing good in." Jeremie sighed. " What is it?" She asked.

" I don't know."

" Well it isn't nothing Jeremie. I've been teaching for nearly twenty years, and I've never seen a dramatic change for the worse this bad. Is it a person, a teacher, a girl perhaps." she asked, thinking that would be appropriate because of his age. Jeremie just shrugged. " It is a girl. Who?" She asked with a smile.

" Can I go?" her asked, not wanting to get in this conversation.

" Alright. You can go." Jeremie picked up his backpack and walked out of the classroom. Walking through the halls he was walking through the empty hallways, having been in the class long enough for the halls to clear out. He was on his way to lunch before he heard someone giggling. He knew that giggle. Stopping listened, trying to find the source. Following his eyes, he arrived at a broom closet. Seeing there was a keyhole, he decided to peer through it, wanting to know if it was the correct giggling. It was.

Aelita and Odd were in the closet. They were talking politely as Jeremie continued to look in. " Top twenty Odd. I'm so proud of you." Aelita said to him.

" Thanks, and I mean it. You helped me study, do my homework, and everything. I couldn't of done it without you." Aelita smiled at him then moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around him. ' What the hell?' Jeremie asked himself. ' Please no.'

" I owed you. You taught me so much about being human again. Something were a little uncomfortable to do, but you still did. All you had to do was walk away or say no, but you didn't."

" I couldn't let my friend go around being socially clueless."

" Well I still am."

" Not as much. You could of fooled me." Aelita smiled, then kissed him. ' You son of a bitch Odd.' Jeremie said to himself, but it slipped. " What was that?" Jeremie moved away from the door and ran down the hall. Odd opened the door and looked outside. " Clear." The two exited the room and began to head to lunch.

---

Ulrich was surprised to see himself the first to arrive at lunch. Seeing Jeremie walk over he said hi and he didn't answer him, just dropped his backpack off and moved into the lunch line. ' what's his problem?' Ulrich heard someone sit next to him, and at first he thought it was Sissi. Turning around he was about to insult her, " What the hell do..." before he saw it was Yumi. " Yumi? What're you doing here?" Yumi smiled at him.

" I have off today, so I got a pass to hang out with you guys for today." Ulrich was having a bad day, until now.

" Cool," he said casually.

" Yumi!" Aelita said, dashing over to her friend, having not seen her since last week. Hugging her the two sat down. " What're you doing here?"

" I'm off for the day. So I thought I'd hang out with my jr. high friends. Anyone against it." Everyone shook their head, as Jeremie took his seat with his lunch. " Hey Jeremie."

" Hey," he said like he really didn't care.

" What's wrong?" she asked.

" He got a D on the last science test," Odd said to Yumi, thinking that was the reason he was angry. He couldn't of missed further if he threw the ball in the wrong direction. " Which I passed," he said proudly. " And, on top of that, made the top twenty in the grade."

" Way to go Odd," Yumi said with a smile then looked back at Ulrich who was also congratulating him. Jeremie wasn't. On any other occasion he would, but not today. Not ever again. Aelita was his. ' Aelita is mine...Aelita is mine...Aelita is mine. Not his, mine!' Jeremie screamed in his mind.

" Come on Jeremie, aren't you at least a little happy for Odd," Ulrich asked. Jeremie stood up and dumped his food in the trash can.

" I would of ate that," Odd said watching the food go away. ' Bet you would've pig boy.' Jeremie walked out of the room. " What is his deal today?"

" I'll talk to him." Yumi said, standing up then following him. Running after him, she shouted, " Jeremie! Jeremie wait up!" Jeremie stopped as Yumi caught up with him. " What is it?" Jeremie looked at her. Yumi, the only person he could tell something too. ' Maybe if it isn't a secret..'

" I'm mad, because Aelita is dating Odd." Yumi looked back to the cafeteria then back at him.

" She is?" Jeremie nodded. " That's not good, if someone else finds out. What if Sissi found out. Milly would have a field day."

" They're keeping it private. They don't know I know."

" What's going on?" Damien asked walking over with Milly. Jeremie would have told him, but Milly was right there.

" Nothing. Just talking." Yumi said before Jeremie could. " What're you and Milly doing?"

" I've agreed to do an interview for the paper," Damien said. Jeremie looked at Yumi, who looked back at him. Together, they looked back at Damien. " What, I'm bored. Until the corrupt computer starts acting up, I need to occupy my time somehow. " he whispered to them, then walked away with Milly who was ecstatic. No one had ever agreed to an interview.

" Are you serious about Odd and Aelita?" Yumi making sure. Jeremie nodded, telling her about the closet. " That's big. He even taught her. Wow. How the hell did that slip by me."

" It slipped by all of us. What should we do?" Jeremie asked more for himself than for the group.

" I say let them," Yumi said. " I don't want Aelita's first relationship to end because you want it to." Jeremie looked back at Aelita who was sitting next to Odd.

" Fine," He said sadly.

---

Odd had called Aelita to meet him in her room. Aelita was studying in the library and was walking over to see what her ' boyfriend ' wanted. She loved having one. Even if she couldn't brag about it. Seeing Odd waiting at her door she smiled and ran over to him. Unlocking her door they walked into her room, shutting and locking the door behind her. Wrapping her arms around his neck, resting her elbows on his shoulder, she tried to kiss him, but he denied her the right.

" Odd?" she asked over kissing his cheek instead of his lips. Odd had moved his head away from hers, making her miss.

" Aelita. I'm...sorry." he said to her sadly. Aelita looked at him confused.

" Sorry for what?"

" Because, I'm here to tell you..." Odd began nervously." That we can't do this anymore." Aelita let her hands drop to her sides as she took a step away. " I'm sorry."

" Why?"

" Because we're going to get caught," He said, unknown to him Milly was at the door listening in. ' They were going out. Big scoop.' she said, writing that in her notebook. " When that happens, they'll call my parents, and find out your not my cousin." ' What?' Milly asked herself.

" I don't care Odd," She said. " Let them find out."

" They'll take you away. They'll get to the lab, and find out everything we've been working on. They'll shut it down, probably arrest the five of us. I could never forgive myself if that happened."

" Why can't we be together?" Aelita crying.

" We can," Odd said crouching next to her. " Just not now. We have to wait."

" I don't want to wait Odd."

" Aelita, do you love me. And don't just say you do because of our current situation. Think about it. Do you love me?" Aelita thought about the word love. From people, she heard it is the desire to have something so bad, you do anything to keep it. In health, she learned it was the ability to see the flaws in something, and still like it. From kids she heard love was the desire to be with someone always, never leave their side. In health, it was to be able to be away from something but still not let the separation affect the relationship. Going with what she knew and what she felt, she answered.

" Yes. I love you Odd," she said after thinking and staring in his eyes for about ten seconds.

" Then you can wait. Wait till we can have a relationship that we don't have to hide. We can cuddle next to each other and have other people say how cute we look. When we kiss, we can and have people watching. But now is not that time. If you love me, you can wait." Aelita didn't want to. But suddenly she knew she had to. She had to wait, and if that is what it took to be with him. Waiting a day, a year, five years, hopefully not but possibly, then she would do it.

" Okay," she finally said. " I'll wait." Milly looked down at her notebook and that she had written everything on. She could easily run off, and type into an article. Looking at it she swallowed hard. She held their fate in her hands. Smiling, she tore it in half and threw it away. ' I may be a journalist, but I'm not Sissi.' She said to herself before walking away.

Aelita and Odd hugged tightly. " Can I have one more kiss?"Odd smiled, he wanted one too. Bringing his face to his he kissed her, gently, but solidly. Moving away she kissed him again. " It has to last Odd." Odd smiled, and kissed her again, the last one they'd do for awhile.


	9. Proven wrong never felt better

_Slightly sexual, but nothing to cause sickness._

Yumi was just leaving third hour and going to her locker. She expected William to be there. He always was now. They'd meet up, go to math then lunch, then part afterwards, talking for a few minutes after school. The school was filled with activity this week. Homecoming was next week, and everyone needed a date. She saw William and began to walk over to him. " Hey," He said to her as she began to place in lock combination.

" Hey," She said back, pulling it open and trading science for math. " So did you do the math homework?" William shook his head as she handed him a sheet of paper. Every now and then he would forget or note finish his math, so she'd let him copy hers.

" I wanted to ask you something," William said as they began to walk to math.

" What?" She asked him, half expected what he wanted to ask.

" Will you go to homecoming with me?" She was right. Yumi really had to think. The only reason she hadn't done anything with William, was because of her feelings toward Ulrich. Homecoming was for the high school kids only. It would be social disaster to not go.

" Sure," she said, a little guilty because of Ulrich. She wanted to go with Ulrich, but that wasn't an option. She figured, just a few dances, a little conversation, then she'd leave. Nothing would happen. William was surprised she agreed. Yumi told herself that she wanted to prove Damien wrong about William. This was her chance to do so.

" Alright," William said, surprised.

* * *

Yumi had told everyone but Ulrich about Homecoming, knowing he'd make a scene about it. She would try to tell him it was just the dance, but he would take it the wrong way. He was predictable. After telling Aelita and Jeremie, she didn't tell Odd because Odd would tell Ulrich, she got ready for that Saturday which arrived fairly quickly. Wearing nothing special, a simple black dress with earrings, she waited on her porch for William to arrive. William had got his licence.

William picked her up and the two went to the school. The dance for the most part was decent. Just a bunch of random songs were played all night. Some old, some new, some no one had even heard of. They slow danced for the four slow dance songs, Yumi not to close to William, who wanted her closer. After the two hour dance William was driving her back to her house and stop somewhere else.

" Where are we?" She asked him. It seemed like the middle of nowhere. A few other cars were around here, Yumi seeing people in them. From the shadows of the people, it looked like they were making out. Suddenly she felt William lean over and kiss her. " What are you doing?" She asked, leaning away quickly.

" What does it look like?" He asked her. He kissed her again. For some reason, Yumi didn't pull away. She kissed back. ' I knew she'd come around.'

* * *

Ulrich had found himself walking toward the high school that night. Aelita had tipped him off, and he took it the wrong way. When he arrived the high school was already empty, put he saw a glimpse of her in his car driving away. Kicking the dirt he swore to himself and began to slowly and sadly walk away. As if on cue, it began to rain.

Ulrich walked toward the academy in the rain, that was down pouring now. Pulling his coat closer to himself, he began continued to walk through the rain. It seemed to be raining because of him. It took him twenty minutes to see the wall of the school, and another fifteen to arrive at the intersection to turn to get to the gate. Suddenly it stopped raining. Least something good had happened.

Ulrich turned the corner, and bumped into someone who was running. The both fell over and then Ulrich lay up to look at who he hit. He was speechless. It was Yumi. They both just looked at each other for a long time before he rose to his feet. Helping Yumi to hers he said, " How was homecoming with William." Before he could continue, she grabbed his shoulders and pulled him toward her. She kissed him, hard, and firmly, wanting him to respond in the same way.

Ulrich didn't get the chance to kiss back as Yumi pulled away and looked at him. " What happened?" Ulrich asked her.

" Shut up," She said before she kissed him again. This time, he kissed back. Ulrich held her close, noticing they were both soaking wet from the rain. Yumi was walking in it as well. Her black dress was soaked, as was her hair. She hadn't worn high heels, though she was considering it. They stopped to look at each other, shivering from the rain, their clothes had become their second skin, making it awkward to walk.

" So what happened," Ulrich asked her again.

" Let's just say Damien was right," Yumi responded, happy to be proved wrong for a change.

* * *

**Forty five minutes ago**...

William had managed to get Yumi into the back seat of his car, on top of her, making out. Yumi didn't know why she was doing this. It confused her because of Ulrich. Did she love Ulrich, or did she just like him. What ever the case non the less, here she was. Deciding she knew Ulrich wouldn't make a step, she took one. It was away from him, and closer to another.

For five minutes they were there, kissing, with the occasional tongue. Yumi had placed her arms around his neck, and William had slid his arms under his shoulders and was supporting himself over her. The kissing became more aggressive after a few minutes, closer holder, pressing harder. That's when Yumi began to feel something she didn't want to.

It was Williams hand, slowly pulling down the zipper on her dress. Yumi caught him not even a tenth of the way down. " No," Yumi said to him. " What are you doing?"

" What does it look like?" He asked like before. He continued to slid his hand down with the zipper still there. Yumi pushed him off her, reached around and zipped it back up.

" I said no."

" Oh come on Yumi," William said to her as if she was doing something wrong. " Everyone is doing it."

" Well I'm not. I don't think I'm ready for that. With you or with anyone else." That seemed to bounce right off William, who tried to kiss her. " What is your problem!" Yumi slapped him to make her point a little bolder. Yumi opened the back door, and stepped out of his car. William tried to grab her, but only got his head hit when she slammed the door shut. Knowing nothing he could say would help, he didn't go after her.

Yumi had the worst luck she thought. William had tried to have sex with her. Proving Damien right no less. She felt violated that William didn't seem to understand, then it started to rain. Not wanting to go back, she walked through the rain. Thoughts began to flood her mind all at once. Deciding not to think, she continued through the rain.

Soon Kadic came into sight, and more interesting thoughts came into mind. Ulrich came into mind. She wanted to say she was sorry. She had noticed something at the same time. It was slightly her fault why nothing had happened between them. Not like she tried to push it either. Deciding, she wanted to push it, she began to run toward the intersection. It stopped raining a second later, and another second later, the person she wanted to see, she ran into to.

* * *

Yumi and Ulrich had found themselves in Yumi's room ten minutes later, getting it out of their systems. Every thought about William faded that night. Only Ulrich was in focus. Ulrich was nervous about this. He had her, but, now what. He was shy, and didn't date that often, he wasn't clueless but he wasn't a genius. Yumi didn't seem to care. They were still in their wet clothes, not even bothering to take them off.

Ulrich shirt was making him cold, so he instinctively took it off to warm up, forgetting about Yumi. Turning back at her he blushed, and so did she. Not even an hour ago, she had decided she wasn't ready. But for some reason, she was ready now. She felt like she would wake up next morning, next to him, and not feel guilty. Yumi reached around her back and managed to get her zipper halfway down. " Could you finish this?" She asked. She kept it over her breasts her hands holding it up as it hung over a little.

Ulrich slowly did so slow, out of nerves and respect. He didn't want to rush this, or go to fast and get it caught. That would've been cool. It reached her waist she stood up off her bed and pulled it down to her ankles, stepping out of it she looked back at Ulrich, who was staring at her. She didn't cover her body which only defense was her bra and panties. Walking over to him she sat on her bed, then lay down.

Ulrich had a rough idea about what she was doing. She was either cold, or wanted something from Ulrich. He ruled out cold. If she was, she'd be under her blanket. Either way, he was cold so lay over her, their bodies warming each other. Ulrich took her lead ad reached around her back, trying to unhook her bra. Yumi leaned up to help him, a minute later, it was loose. Before going further, Ulrich asked her, " Are you sure?" That made Yumi rethink it. She wasn't sure.

It took her nearly a minute to answer. " No," she said with hushed voice.

" Then don't." That surprised her. William wouldn't of asked like Ulrich had. But he had the chance to persuade her, and he didn't, because she was having the slightest doubt.

" If we do this, I want both of us to be one hundred percent sure about it. I want the right moment, the right place, the right emotions. If you feel in anyway this is not that, then don't." Yumi looked at him, the smiled. She grabbed her blanket, and pulled it over both of them.

" Thank you," Yumi said to him. Ulrich nodded. " Your pants are soaking my bed." Ulrich slid out from under the blanket and placed his shirt back on. Yumi grabbed his arm as he made for the window. " Just don't go." Ulrich began to think about what could happen if someone noticed he was gone. Aelita, Jeremie and Odd would cover for him.

" Okay," he said taking his shirt back off, noticing he was cold again. Taking his pants off he crawled next to Yumi, placing his chest next to her back as they lay there, till they fell asleep.


	10. Just run

The next morning Yumi and Ulrich woke up exactly how they fell sleep. Next to each other, holding each other close. Yumi woke up first, her movement of waking up, making him wake up. Ulrich did his usually groan for a few minutes before deciding to stretch. Kissing Yumi's back Yumi smiled, remembering what had happened last night. It was safe to assume they were together now. Ulrich even passed up sex with her, because Yumi wasn't sure if she was ready, even if she was egging him on.

Ulrich decided to stretch, not noticing he was right on the end of Yumi's futon mattress. He hit her ground and Yumi laughed, the blanket sliding with Ulrich off the bed covering him. Her bedroom door opened, her mother telling her breakfast was ready. Yumi grabbed part of the blanket to cover her body, that was only guarded by her undergarments, not feeling it necessary to wear pajamas.

" Mom!" Yumi shouted at her. Yumi's mother didn't even look away. It was her daughter, like she should feel embarrassed.

" Do I even want to know?" Her mother asked.

" I was too tired to change last night," She said, though, too occupied was more of an appropriate answer. Either way her mother bought it.

" Oh. Well, breakfast is ready, get dressed and come down." Yumi gave her a 'whatever, just get the hell out' kinda look.. " How was homecoming?" Yumi lowered her head sadly. The dance was fun but other than meeting Ulrich it wasn't. " Did that boy try to pressure you?"

" Yeah," Yumi said honestly.

" Did you let him do anything, are you still pure?"

" I'm pure."

" Did you injure him?" Yumi thought about how good it felt to slam the door on William's head. She nodded. " That's my girl. Get dressed." Yumi's mom smiled then closed the door.

" Do you think she saw me?" Ulrich asked from under the blanket.

" No, I think your safe. That would have been weird if you hadn't fallen. Mom walks in, I'm half naked with you, and your half naked with me, and we look satisfied about something." Ulrich laughed from under the blanket and pushed it off his head.

" Good morning," he said to her, smiling. Yumi smiled back. " I should leave soon." Yumi knew he should. If he didn't soon, the school would notice he was gone, or her parents would catch him. Not wanting either, she nodded.

" I know. But I don't want you to leave," Yumi said to him.

" I don't want to leave, you know that," Ulrich responded, laying on her bed next to her. They began to kiss a moment later, then they stopped and stared at each other. Ulrich lay up to get dressed but Yumi pushed him back down, walked over to her door she locked it, then walked back to him. ' Why didn't I lock it last night? Oh yeah, I was to busy stumbling in with Ulrich's tongue in my mouth.' Laying over him, she rested her body on his then kissed him. Ulrich seemed to like it better when she was on top, it meant less work for him.

Ten minutes later, Yumi's door knocked and her brother was there. " Yumi, breakfast, will you stop doing your hair."

" I'm coming!" She shouted at the door. Yumi heard his footsteps leave a second later. " I think that's the buzz kill." Ulrich nodded, then Yumi let him get up. Ulrich grabbed his still extremely wet clothes and put them on. Stepping over to Yumi's window and opened it. Feeling that the weather was nice and sunny he grabbed the tree branch then leaned back in to kiss Yumi once more before he began to climb.

Yumi closed the window, got dressed then began to go downstairs. Then she remembered something. Her room is directly above the kitchen. Swearing to herself she ran down the stairs then ran into the kitchen. Mom made rice and eggs. Seeing Ulrich, she nearly laughed and screamed. He was hanging upside down, trying to pry his foot loose from the branch above him. Yumi slid in front of the window so her family wouldn't see him.

* * *

Ulrich began to climb down from the tree. Yumi had already closed the window and he had started to climb lower. When he was almost parallel with the first floors roof, the branch below him broke as he fell, just not all the way. His left ankle got caught in a split shaped branch that grabbed his foot and made him dangle. Trying to wiggle free he saw that he was parallel with the window now, and could see Yumi's family eating breakfast. ' Oh shit!' 

Wiggling harder to get free, he saw Yumi walk in, who immediately ran to the window and blocked her families view. " Yumi, eat breakfast," her mother said, tapping the chair next to hers, the food already on the table. Yumi needed to keep her position, or Ulrich would be discovered. " Yumi."

" Trying to crack my back on the counter," Yumi told her, leaning back to make it more convincing. To her luck, her back actually cracked. ' That felt good.' Looking over her shoulder she saw Ulrich still struggling to get his foot loose. Suddenly he pulled himself up, undid his shoelaces, then fell to the grass.

" What was that?" Her father asked, hearing Ulrich's back hit the ground. After a second without any noise he kept eating. Yumi looked over her shoulder, and saw Ulrich jumping up trying to get his shoe back. Ulrich looked at her and pointed at his shoe. ' Just go.' Yumi mouthed him. Ulrich pointed at the shoe as if saying, ' But my shoe.' ' Just go dammit.' Ulrich sighed then walked down the street, soaking wet, covered in grass and walking with one shoe.

* * *

Ulrich managed to get to his dorm room unseen by anyone. He opened his door to see Odd still asleep. Odd woke up when he walked in, and noticed he seemed happy. Noticeably happy. Then after remembering why he had left( He may not be able to date Aelita,(chpt8), but she still told him everything), he smiled. " What did you and Yumi do that involved all night and alone?" Odd asked. 

" It's not what you think," Ulrich asked taking off his shirt, which was hard because it was sticking to his back.

" Then what was it?" Odd asked. Ulrich just looked at him, slightly smiling then slightly annoyed about his question. " Did you at least kiss her?"

" Yeah of course."

" Yes!" Odd cheered. " Bout time." Ulrich just blushed a little and left the room to take a shower.

---

Damien and Aelita had decided to sneak out and see a movie. They knew they were a little behind on the generation so decided to try and catch up. They also thought it best to see a movie that was a sequel to a movie that came out before the carthage crisis. Walking out of the theater they were discussing the movie as they made their way through the lobby. Some of the kids at the theater were from the school, having snuck out as well

The lobby was fairly empty, it being early afternoon on Sunday. More families were here than teenagers with their friends. Damien say a thirteen year old kid being annoyed by his mother, then he froze. He couldn't get his eyes of the mother. Seeing the father behind her, the father made eye contact with Damien and froze as well. The man mouthed, ' Damien.'

Damien grabbed Aelita hand as the two ran to the front door of the theater. The father told his wife something then ran after them. The two burst out the front doors. " Why are we running?" Aelita asked him.

" Don't ask, trust me, just run." They ran into the parking lot and through a few cars till they hit the main street and then crossed traffic.

" Damien!" The man shouted at them. Damien and Aelita ran through the park, cutting through trees, then stopping hiding behind a largely vegetated area. The man stopped to catch his breath. Aelita peered through the brush to get her look at this man. He was tall, six foot some inches. Light brown hair, green eyes. Aelita seemed like she knew him. Then she looked at Damien and saw something. A striking resemblance between the two. " Damien!" The man shouted through the trees. After a minute he decided they lost him then he began to walk back to the theaters.

When it was safe Aelita and Damien began back to the school. Aelita didn't ask him questions until they were back in his room. " Who was that man Damien?" Aelita asked him. Damien had a very worried look on his face. Dread almost. " Damien?"

" Aelita, we need to stay within the boundaries of the school for now on. No sneaking out, no going for a walk." Damien said to her like a strict parent.

" Why? Who was that?"

" Aelita, that was my father."


	11. Problem solved

Damien had gathered everyone in the lab. It was time to be a little more careful. He had seen his father, and his father had seen him. His father, was bad news for all of them.

" Wait, you saw your father, then man who created Carthage?" Jeremie asked him. Damien nodded.

" Yeah. He was the one who sent the government agents after Aelita, Franz, and I. If he knows the lab is active again, then we're screwed."

" Hold on Damien," Aelita said to him. " If he knows your back, wouldn't he put two and two together?" Aelita asked. Damien hadn't thought of that. He was so nerve racked about his father being back into this situation it crossed his mind.

" Oh shit," Damien said aloud. " Didn't think on that one."

" Let's go before something happens," Jeremie said to everyone, who nodded back at him. Boarding the elevator everyone followed. Pressing up the elevator began to go up, then a minute later docked on the surface. Taking a step out Damien looked to his right then pushed everyone back in.

" What?" Yumi asked him, because she didn't like it when people touched her.

" Go back down now," Damien said to them. No one moved. Damien pressed down then watched as the screen slowly slide down. Just when it was halfway down someone from outside grabbed Damien and pulled him under.

" Damien!" Aelita shouted as she watched him get tugged under the sliding door. She tried to crawl under but Odd grabbed her arm and pulled her back in, a second later the door hit the floor and the elevator began to descend.

* * *

" Hello father," Damien said to his father. Damien's father looked at him then let him go. Damien stood up then watched the elevator fall.

" Who else is here?" His father asked him. " Is your cousin or uncle involved in this?"

" Just me," he said, not wanting to endanger Aelita.

" Where have you been, and why haven't you aged in twelve years. Is this even you?" His father asked, making sure he wasn't talking to a ghost.

" Your brothers computer can do some neat stuff," he said as his excuse. Then he began to reach into his pocket for his cell phone. Hitting a button he said, " And I bet JEREMIE, is trying to find a way to get out without getting caught." he said. Then his phones voice activation began to dial Jeremie's number.

" Your coming with me right now," His father said to him.

" Damien are you alright?" Jeremie asked him from the phone.

" What?" His father asked.

" Run a return now!" Damien shouted then began to run away from his father. Damien's father was faster and grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him to the ground. Damien's head hit the concrete, making him immobile for a few seconds.

" Your not going anywhere," His father said to him. Then he looked down the shaft as it began to glow bright with a white light.

" I beg to differ," Damien said, who a moment later was laying on his bed.

* * *

Damien opened his eyes then looked around his room. His roommate was passed out, and the room needed a bit of laundry pick up. Per usual. Stretching then standing up he pulled out his phone and called Aelita. It rang once before she answered.

" What happened?" She asked him. " Who was that?"

" My dad. We'll be working from Jeremie's laptop for awhile, the lab is off limits," He said to her.

" Can you still look for my father from there?" She asked him.

" I can, just not as fast. Meet you at breakfast."

Damien got dressed then went down stairs. Today was Sunday so no school today. Usually he'd bring his backpack with him, but didn't. Walking through the courtyard he saw a few people already awake and getting some breakfast. Odd among them. Ulrich was still sleeping. He slept in on Sundays. Yumi got herself a pass and visited, and was already in the cafeteria with Jeremie and Aelita.

Damien never eats breakfast so sat down across from Aelita. " What happened to you?" Aelita asked him. He was fine but she was still worried.

" My dad grabbed me and wanted me to go with him. I used voice activation to call Jeremie, who ran the return. Right now, I bet my dad is at the factory watching and waiting." Damien slammed his fists on the table.

" I'm close to it. I just need a little more time to figure it out," Damien said aloud.

" You'll figure it out Damien," Aelita said to him. " Jeremie can help you."

" I think he's better off on his own Aelita. I hate to admit it but this is a little out of my league," Jeremie said. Aelita looked at him shocked. Jeremie never admits his faults.

" I don't Jeremie, I might be able to use your help, nothings encrypted, I just need to figure out who's information Aelita has." Damien said. " It won't work on Hopper. Only his own will work." Jeremie thought about that.

" Wait, shouldn't that apply for Aelita s well. No two strands are the same, so technically saying she couldn't operate with anyone's DNA besides her own. Right?" Jeremie asked, making sure he was making a valid point. Damien heard everything he said, then realized something. He was right.

" You're a genius. I mean it. I know where his data is." Damien said, with a few clues on the table he solved the answer.

" Where?" Aelita asked, wanting to know and understand what they were talking about.

" It's still in lyoko. Jeremie can I borrow your laptop?" Jeremie opened his backpack and handed him the computer. Damien used the link and began to type

" I wasn't looking for his DNA before because I thought Aelita had it, but now.." he began, before pressing enter and waiting on a loading screen. Then it stopped and said search complete. " I know exactly where it is." Jeremie leaned over and looked at the screen, telling them where Hopper's DNA was in lyoko.

" He found it," Jeremie said to Aelita who smiled then climbed over the table and looked at the screen. " Only problem is, the lab is out of the question."

" Then we'll sneak in," Damien said to them. " Yumi, get Ulrich up."

" Okay," She said then began to walk out of the cafeteria.

" If you take longer than twenty minutes, we'll assume something," Odd said to her.

" Could you give me half an hour, just to make it fair?" Yumi asked him.

" Just get him," Damien said to her.

" Alright alright," Yumi said to them then went to get Ulrich.


	12. Super Creeper

Taking the sewers they quickly arrived at the ladder that lead to the bridge. Damien saw the drain lead to under the bridge and slid through the greasy bars.

" Come on," Damien said to everyone then started to move toward the factory from under th bridge. " Anybody up for a swim?" Damien said, forgetting about the water until he saw it.

Aelita looked at the water. " Not really," She said. Odd smiled then jumped in first. Damien smiled then went as well. Ulrich and Yumi shrugged and did the same. Aelita looked off the edge again then sighed. She went in last.

The swam across the river then climbed on the other side of the bridge carefully looking then running in. They avoided the elevator and made their way to the boiler room entrance and soon were climbing down from the crawlspace above the computer. Still shaking off the water Damien took the chair and typed up the location of France Hopper's DNA code again, so Jeremie could guide them from here.

" Odd, Yumi, Aelita, and I will go in. Ulrich you help Jeremie in case my father gets wise," Damien said to him then climbed down the alternate entrance to the scanner room. Odd, Yumi, and Aelita went in the scanner and Jeremie virtualized them, and Damien shortly followed. They all landed in the desert sector and Jeremie sent them to sector five to get Hoppers code.

Odd complained of a stomach problem from the orb before the wall opened and the four of them took off. " Where's the key?" Damien asked Jeremie as they ran through the corridor to the trap room.

" Umm, theres's four of them?" Jeremie said puzzled.

" Nice," Damien said. " Everyone, pick a key," Damien said then went to stop looking around the room.

" There's one," Aelita said.

" Another's over there," Odd said. Yumi saw one as well then pointed it out. Damien saw his own and smiled.

" Go," Damien said then ran toward his. The moment he took a step, he was knocked back and hit the wall hard.

" What the hell!" Damien shouted, trying to stand. Across the room was a creeper. " They're usually not that strong," Damien said to them.

" Guys, that thing isn't normal. It has nearly five hundred points," Jeremie said. It fired again and Yumi tried to block it with her fan that shattered and made her fall back.

" This is bad," Yumi said then stoop up. Damien reached out, then punched his hand into his chest. After a moment he punched in the other one and pulled out two katanas to fight with.

" Seriously Damien, do you have to do that?" Aelita asked.

Odd fired an arrow to see if it would affect it at all. Odd saw a shield arise from around the creeper before contact was made.

" Oh shit," Odd said aloud. The creeper was angry and fired at Odd. " Shield!" Odd's shield held the blast as Odd slid back several feet but didn't topple over. " Again, holy shit."

" Does this thing have a weakness?" Damien asked aloud.

" Doesn't look like it. Two minutes," Jeremie said, reminding them of the timer.

" I'll find the weakness," Damien said. " Let me get a bigger sword. Hold these please," he said to Aelita then handed her the katanas. Damien reached into his chest then a moment later pulled his arms back with a the hilt of a sword. Slowly pulling he was soon holding a six foot heavy sword.

" What do I do with these?" Aelita asked.

" Give me them, my fans are useless," Yumi said. Aelita threw her the swords and swung them around once. " Here we go."

Damien charged then jumped high. Pulling the sword behind his back he swung straight down and hard. He saw the shield make contact with the sword and began to fight against the sword. It held for a few second, before it shattered violently sending Damien back and slamming against the wall. The giant sword impaled Damien while he was up and he began to devirtualize.

" Son of a bitch," he said before he was gone.

" He's fine, the shields down, kill it, Minute thirty," Jeremie said them. Odd began to fire at it, hitting it almost every time, taking down it's life points slowly. It fired at Odd who dove out of the way then began to run as the creeper kept shooting.

* * *

Damien pulled himself up from the hatch to the scanner from and climbed into the lab. Jeremie looked at him, then kept helping them in lyoko. 

" Do you mind telling me what the fuck that thing was," Damien said to Jeremie.

" A creeper."

" I know what it looked like. That thing is on steroids for christ's sake.

" Xana is attacking with more power."

" I don't think so. That one didn't have an eye of xana on it. It didn't have any symbol," Damien said then sat against the wall. " How they holding?"

" Fine for now, but the timer is running out...and Yumi's out," Jeremie said, watching Yumi's life points go to zero. " Ulrich, get in there."

" I'm on it," Ulrich said then began to climb down the hatch.

* * *

" Yumi!" Odd shouted while Yumi devirtualized. It's points were less than half now but it was too dangerous to fight it directly. " Aelita, check the keys, I'll hold him off." Odd said. 

Aelita nodded then ran for the nearest key. Odd shot at the creeper getting it's attention away from Aelita who had just pressed a button. At first nothing happen, but suddenly the ground began to shake. The ground beneath Odd was shaking, then at the last second he jumped and the ground below him fell.

" Wrong key!" Odd shouted as other ground fell. Aelita swore to herself then avoided a blast. Diving out of the way she almost fell down one of the holes but grabbed the edge in time. The creeper fired at her, but Odd jumped in the way.

" Shield!" Odd shouted and the blast was blocked, knocking Odd back and against a wall. Odd stood up then looked next to him and saw a key. " Thanks." Odd hit the key and waiting to see what happened next.

Pieces of the roof fell and Aelita jumped out of the way to avoid it just in time. One landed on the creeper, then deteriorated.

" It's weak now guys, less than one hundred," Jeremie said to them. Odd fired an arrow at it to keep the life points dying. " Ten seconds!" Odd saw the nearest key and began to pray it was the right one. The creeper shot at Odd who cartwheeled out of the way then somersaulted toward the key. Jumping up he pushed the key in and the time stopped at five seconds.

The door opened , but the monster still blocked the path. Ulrich came running through the entrance a moment later and jumped to strike it, but was shot back and hit the last key back first. Everyone stood still as they waiting for whatever was supposed to happen to take place.

" Now what?" Odd asked. The floor and the roof began to rise and fall toward each other. Odd grabbed Aelita's hand then ran toward the creeper. Odd pushed Aelita around it and she slid into the next room, but Odd was hit.

" Odd!" Aelita shouted. Ulrich was crushed a second later, but Aelita began to use creation. She created a block to keep the one above Odd up. Odd looked over to her and began to walk on all fours to her. Aelita grabbed his hand just before the block broke and the creeper finally destroyed.

Odd and Aelita were breathing deep and heavy as they just lay on the floor. " Come on, the room is going to crush us if we don't start moving," Odd said then helped Aelita up. The two began to run, and a few moments later the room began to close. Making it to the end easy they were at the terminal outside of the sphere.

Jeremie instructed Aelita on what to do and then a door opened on a part of the sphere. Jeremie materialized the over board and wing and the two entered the room. The room was circular and in the center was a sphere that bobbed up and down, like Aelita's memories xana used to lure them into a trap with.

" That's it. Grab it and go," Jeremie said to Aelita. Aelita walked over to the sphere and grabbed it. It immediately stopped bobbing and vanished in her hand.

" Jeremie?" Aelita asked.

" Don't worry, you still have it," Jeremie said. " Get out of there. I'm opening the exit."

Odd and Aelita rode out of the room with France Hopper's virtual dna and out the exit.

* * *

**I have started a new CL forum. It's ** **called Worst CL fanfics. I'm in need of moderators, so if interested PM me.**  



	13. Only shot

Minutes later everyone was around the computer as Damien took control and began to attach Franz Hoppers virtual dna back to his body. No one else to really tell what was going to happen so just had to wait. When everything seemed good Damien hit enter, and a new screen appeared. On one side of the screen was a dna double helix, and the other, the image of a body. The dna began to disappear but as it did, the body began to full up.

" It should take about an hour," Damien said to them. " This is something that has no shortcuts."

A moment later, the screen began to get fuzzy, then static began to distort it, till after ten seconds it went blank. Damien clicked the mouse a few times, clicked keys on the keyboard with no success. " That can't be good."

The computer clicked back on and the uploading screen was gone, something else replaced it. It was the video image of a man. Static distorted the picture, so it was impossible yo get a positive ID on him.

" Naughty children. You should all be punished for this. Use of this computer is illegal, and punishable by the full extent of the law. This isn't a little bit of jail time. This is the chair for treason against the French Government," The man said. His face was covered, but his voice wasn't.

Damien tried to exit out, but the computer was frozen. " I have control, not you. That little sphere you found wasn't Franz's dna. It was an uplink to our system, and when you uploaded it, you gave me control of lyoko, and helped me regain control of carthage. Couldn't have done it without you," The man said to them.

Damien heard the elevator start going down. " And for a thankyou, I'm sending an escort."

" Shit!" Damien shouted then jumped off the chair. " Time to go. Crawl space, now!" Yumi was closest to the ladder so started to climb first. Jeremie went up second followed by Aelita. Ulrich went up next, then reached out a hand to help up Odd. When Odd stepped onto the first rung of the ladder, the elevator door opened, and five men in black suits were in the elevator. Each with a gun in hand.

" Go!" Damien shouted, then grabbed the ladder. The others were already at the top when a gun shot cracked through the room. Damien dropped to the ground back first.

" Damien!" Aelita shouted, then looked toward the ground.

" I said go!" Damien shouted them. Odd had to pull Aelita forward. One of the men walked toward the ladder, but Damien stepped in front of him, gunshot wound in his shoulder dripping down his arm.

" Stand aside!" The man shouted at him.

" Piss off," Damien said with a smile.

" We have Hopper's son, the others are going out an alternate route, all partols stay on lookout," The man took a step toward Damien who stood his ground. He took another and Damin struck first.

* * *

The other five entered the boiler room of the factory and started to run. Damien was tough but they doubted he could handle five armed men. Running pass a few old rusty water heaters they crossed into the next section of the lab on the second floor then looked out. More men were on the lower floor, guarding the elevavator.

" Wonderful," Yumi said to them then leaned back in.

" We can't stand around and think for too long, Damien is buying as much time as he can," Ulrich said then looked out as well.

" We can't go back to the school, you know that right," Jeremie said to them. " The computer has our information on it. He has control now," Jeremie said to them.

" Not exactly," Aelita said. " You incoded that, right. So don't they need the code. Jeremie, you cracked government files, so I think your code should outsmart them," Aelita said to him. Jeremie smiled. He was too scared to remember that part.

" Let's figure out a way to get the school unnoticed first," Yumi said to them. She looked around the factory, and saw a room with a door ajar. " Follow me."

Yumi crouched down and the led the four to the room then closed the door. She was hoping the room had a window, but it didn't. " Dammit."

" Hey," Aelita said then walked to the center of the room. " It's the control panel," Aelita said to them. " Is this equipment still operational?" Aelita asked the group.

" I think so," Odd said. Aelita flipped a switch, and the lights downstairs turned on. She hit a lever up, and the assembly line conveyor belt turned on.

" What the hell?" The men said, then walked the way of the assembly line. Yumi opened the door ajar and watched them leave.

" Aelita, your a genius," Yumi said then opend the door all the way.

* * *

Damien fell against the computer monitor from the last punch he received. He managed a few punches on the first one, but didn't do much damage. One of the men grabbed Damien by his shirt, then threw him to the ground. Damien was breathing deep and stressed, as two of them started to kick him. After thirty seconds, they stopped, and Damien tried to breathe. Moving his arm he tried to pull himself up, but one of them placed the sole of their shoe on his back and pushed his chest to the ground.

" You little shit, do you have any idea how long it took to find you?" One of them asked. He kicked Damien's side, making him roll over on his back. " Turns out you were here all along."

" Glad to keep your fat ass busy," Damien said to him. The man kicked Damien in the face, breaking his nose, and sending him back to the ground harder.

" Who were those other kids with you?" The man asked.

" Go to hell," Damien said to him. The man pulled out a gun and was about to fire, before another stopped him.

" Stop. We can't make him talk if he's dead. Take him into custody. We'll try to make him talk then, while we use the information in the computer to find the other people who we need to deal with," The man said. The others in the room nodded. Two of them lifted Damien off the ground, then cuffed him.

" Time to go for a little ride," The man said, then the elevator closed beind them.

* * *

The gang got to the school unseen and then closed Odd and Ulrich's door behind them. Ulrich collasped onto his bed, followed by Yumi. Jeremie fell on the chair, and Odd and Aelita feel on Odd's bed.

" That was too close," Jeremie said to them.

" We need to get Damien," Aelita said. " We can't leave him."

" Hate to say it, but he's a goner. We are dealing with the government here," Ulrich said to her. " That's a little out of our leage."

" We can't do nothing though. We don't know if he's dead," Odd said to them.

" We don't know if he's alive either," Yumi said to him. " He was shot, but it didn't look lethal. They were trying to catch him, not kill him." Aelita leaned her back against the wall on Odd's bed trying to think.

" I don't think he's dead. We have to save him," Aelita said to everyone.

" We don't even know where to start looking," Jeremie said to her. Aelita lowered her head. He was right.

" Not exactly," Odd said to them. " Those guys are guarding the factory now. More or less. If one of us goes there, we can try to look at them. Steal something that says who they work for. A badge, their wallet," Odd said to them. Ulrich began to think then decided.

" It's our best shot," Ulrich said to him.

" It's our only shot," Yumi said to them.


	14. Safe for now

**_Been months since I updated this. Couldn't get the chapter in order. Kept changing it but now I finally have it. Please do enjoy._**

* * *

Damien was taken into a room in a building he hadn't had time to identify. His wounds had been treated but his entire body was still sore. A man in a black suit cuffed him to a chair then sat on a chair across from the table. Damien looked down at his feet rather than eye to eye.

" State your name?" The man said with a pencil and paper ready to write everything he said down. He started a tape recorder to record the session. Damien remained silent without looking at him. " Your name," the man asked again. Damien didn't answer.

New question. Are you Damien Hopper?" The man asked. Damien looked up from his feet and looked at his interrogator.

" Yes," Damien answered. The man wrote down the reply and then looked up again.

" Born January eleventh, nineteen seventy eight?" The man asked. Damien almost laughed. In existence he was twenty eight years old. In body he was only sixteen.

" Last I knew," Damien said then looked at the floor again.

" Disappeared in ninety four along with Aelita and Franz Hopper. Graduated in ninety three and has a long list of offences. Do you recall what those were for."

" Why don't you refresh my memory," Damien said to him. The man opened a file then began to read from the list.

" Resisting arrest, attempts at hacking secure information, fleeing the scene of a crime, attacking a police offer. Added all together with the year you spent in a juvenile center this adds to about five years for a repeated offence," the man said then laid the folder back on the table.

Sounds about right. But shouldn't my record of been destroyed since it's been over seven years," Damien asked.

" We make acceptance to cases like yours," he said before the door opened. Damien turned his head and saw his father standing next to him.

" Leave us," he said to the man. He nodded then left the room with Damien's file and the tape recorder. Robert Hopper undid his suit jacket then placed it on the chair. Walking over to the camera he unplugged it from the wall. Walking over to Damien he stood next to him.

" There isn't enough aspirin in this world for a headache like you," Robert said to him. Damien looked up at his father.

" I know. That's why Kyle was the favorite," Damien said to him. Robert punched him and Damien's head spun to the left hard. It didn't hurt but it did sting for several minutes later.

" What?" Damien asked as if he expected the punch. " You never liked me. I wasn't controlled by you. You couldn't stop me from sneaking out, having fun, seeing my back influence uncle."

" Franz was a genius, but he didn't have priorities," Robert said to him. Damien glared at him.

" Don't you mean he didn't have your priorities," Damien said to him. His father smiled at him.

" That woman of his was only a distraction. And when that retched was born he lost his priorities even more. Soon it was all family and no work. He was playing hide and go seek, and tag instead of helping me complete carthage."

" Is wanting to love and be love truly a bad thing. Wanting to actually be a good father to his daughter, a good husband to his wife. That's not a weakness. Yours was neglecting what should have been first in priorities," Damien said. Then his father punched him.

" Then you go and help him. You help him create lyoko and take over carthage. Even after I warned him with that wife of his."

" You killed her," Damien said to him.

" I did what I thought was needed. My brother needed to be unlatched to do his work properly. But he still kept at it, and you helped him. Now before we go further, who else is involved. I want names and I want them now."

Damien looked at the ground instead of at his father. He wasn't going to crack no matter what they did to him. His father sighed then stood up off his chair and walked behind Damien. He placed both hands on his shoulders and took a deep breath.

" One more time. Who is involved?" Robert asked. Again Damien stayed silent. His father was about to hit him before something hit the ground in the corner of the room. Robert took a pistol from a holster on his ankle then aimed it. The vent from the ceiling had fallen.

Then a small black item fell onto the ground and rolled toward Robert. It hit his foot and began to beep. Robert looked down at it when it stopped beeping. Before he could shield his eyes a great flash of white light erupted from the item. A flash bomb.

Robert shouted then grabbed his eyes as they stung more and more. The room spun around him and his ears were ringing the loudest he had ever had them ring. It disorientated him so bad he wobbled then hit the wall. A figure dropped down from the vent and punched him to the ground. The figure ran over to Damien and uncuffed him.

" Listen and listen quickly. We have less than sixty seconds before that door is smashed open. Follow me through the vent and don't ask questions till I say your clear to. Do you understand?" A mans voice said. Damien looked at him. He was cloaked in black tactical clothing from head to toe. Damien nodded.

The man helped Damien through the vents and in less than five minutes he was breathing fresh air.

* * *

Jeremie typed on his laptop as fast as he could to access lyoko but it was locked down. There was no way in. They're plan to run a return was just knocked out the window. Lyoko was no longer under their control and that was their only leverage. Running a return was no longer an option. 

" It's no use," Jeremie said to everyone in the room then closed his laptop. " Lyoko is completely locked down. I couldn't get in unless I crack it directly from the supercomputers server."

" What about Damien. To be honest Odd's plan is a little risky. It's not exactly a safe idea to even approach the factory," Yumi said to them. Odd nodded, his plan of stealing a wallet from a agent thrown down the tube.

Then there was a knock on his door and Aelita got up and answered the door. She almost fainted. It was Damien.

" Damien!" Aelita shouted then threw her arms around him. Damien hugged her back and everyone turned their heads. " How did you get out?"

" I had some help. We have some new info," Damien said before the man who busted him out appeared around the door. He looked about twenty. " Turns out the guys we're fighting aren't government anymore."

The seven sat in Jeremie room and discussed what they knew. Damien introduced the man as Dmetrio. He worked for a splinter cell organization for an actually government agency that he couldn't say.

" All in a nut shell, the bad guys used to be government. They were part of a research department that tried to find electronic weapons for the government. Carthage was their masterpiece," Dmetrio said to them. Everyone listened as he spoke.

Without his black clothing he was a very handsome man. No facial hair with short blonde hair that looked dyed but was natural. He had a natural large build and a tattoo on his neck in the shape of a skull that he said was from his stupid childhood.

" Carthage was going to be a gold mine. The government payed them hundreds of millions of dollars to develop the strongest computer weapon in the world. At the touch of a button you can hack into any computer in the world without of trace of ever being there. But the day it was about to go online it was taken over and encrypted by something even more sophisticated."

" Lyoko," Jeremie said to them. He nodded.

" Franz was leaked as the creator and they went after him. Damien was in his house when they went after him. Franz and Aelita went into lyoko, Damien followed once he alluded the authorities. Years later we're back from where we left off."

" Still. What could they want with it now?" Ulrich asked.

" They don't care about lyoko. They want carthage. Since carthage was deemed a failure the government cut off their funding. Now they're desperate for money and will sell carthage to just about anyone. If this thing hits the black market, it could get into the worst hands. Terrorist, dictators. We need to keep them from activating carthage."

" What about Damien. What will he do, they'll be looking for him," Aelita said to him.

" No worry. He's safe with my agency. We'll be keeping an eye on you five as well. Good luck," Dmetrio said then stood up. He handed Jeremie a sheet of paper. " A safe number. If you need help."

Jeremie nodded and Dmetrio stood up and opened the door. " Damien, time to go," he said then started to walk. Damien hugged Aelita.

" I'll be okay. Keep your head down," Damien said then left after shutting the door behind him.


	15. The spiked punch

A week passed after Damien was forced into hiding. Aelita usually just sat around the school depressed. Damien was all the family she had left and now she couldn't see him. Discussing her childhood with him helped her so much, but now that wasn't possible. There was no one at the school to talk to. Odd noticed and tried to help the best he could, Jeremie all the same even if it was a weak attempt to win her back.

Aelita and Odd still met for his school work. Even though they had to wait to continue their relationship it didn't mean they couldn't study together. They studied in the library to avoid temptation. If they ended up in a room alone they knew they couldn't stop themselves. Aelita had to talk to someone for advise on Damien and Odd. So went to Yumi.

Yumi and Aelita sat in Aelita's room. Aelita sat against the wall on her bed and Yumi leaned against the wall.

" Yumi, there's something I need to tell you," Aelita said to Yumi in a hushed voice.

" What?" Yumi asked.

" About a month back, Odd and I had a secret relationship for about two weeks," Aelita said to her nervously.

" I know," Yumi said to her. Aelita looked back at her shocked. " Jeremie saw you two in the janitors closest one day. I think the day Odd made top twenty percent."

" That long. You've known for that long. Why didn't you tell me you knew?" Aelita asked. Secrets weren't exactly Yumi's thing.

" Because, if you wanted people to know, you would've told me. But I respected the fact you wanted it private. I didn't want you to have to break up with Odd because god forbid someone found out. Why aren't you still together?"

" Odd. He said it was too risky. I agree with him, but I'm going insane. I feel like you wanting Ulrich to make a move," Aelita said to her. Yumi smiled then looked at the ground.

" You wanna kiss him, hold him, cuddle, that kinda stuff?" Yumi asked Aelita.

" Every waking moment," Aelita answered. " I don't know what to do. Even if I manage to get something out of him, it'll cycle back to what it is now."

Yumi kicked off the wall then sat on the bed. She cradled her chin with her palms and began to think. Aelita was in a pretty bad situation.

" And Damien isn't making it any easier," Yumi said to her.

" Nor Jeremie right now. At the beginning of the year he was doing nothing. Now, he's all over me. It was like he woke up and went, 'Oh yeah, Aelita exists!'"

Yumi managed a laugh then calmed herself. Something had to be done. Then she thought of the perfect opportunity.

" I have an idea. My parents are leaving town this weekend. I throw a small party and give you and Odd a chance to get it out of your systems. You can even use my room, just keep it pg thirteen," Yumi said to her. Aelita hugged her tightly and thanked her.

" I'll see you later," Yumi said then left for home. After seeing Ulrich of course.

* * *

Yumi made the plans and invited people over on Saturday afternoon. Ulrich and her sat on a couch, Aelita next to them and Jeremie on a chair. Odd sat on the ground against the coffee table watching television. Her parents finished getting ready for going out of town. Yumi watched them put on their coats.

" Okay Yumi, no one more than who's already here. And everyone needs to clear out by seven. Okay?" Her father said to her. Yumi nodded then her parents closed the door and Yumi opened the curtains to watch them drive away.

" Party on," Yumi said then closed the curtains.

" Who's all coming?" Ulrich asked her.

" Just a few people from the highschool."

* * *

Somehow more people arrived that needed. At least fifty people were there now. Yumi ran around her house telling people to put that down and don't drop that.

" Stop," Yumi shouted then grabbed her moms vase, " That's not for eating!" Yumi shouted then grabbed some rice away from someone who was drunk. " Who the hell brought beer!"

Yumi finally gave up then sat on her couch and looked at the bowl of punch on her table. Pouring herself a cup she drank some then had another cup. Aelita sat next to her giggling and laughing for no reason. Then she realized what it was. Someone had gotten her drunk.

" Oh my god," Yumi said then looked at her. " Who got you drunk?"

" Drunk, I've only had punch," Aelita said then walked away giggling. Yumi quickly looked at the punch then saw a bottle of vodka next to it. Someone had spiked it.

" Oh no," Yumi said, when she realized she was starting to feel the affects.

" Fun party," A voice said from behind Yumi. Yumi frowned when she realized who it was.

" Who invited you?" Yumi asked William turning around at him.

" No one did. But I invited everyone else. And don't have any of the punch, it'll only take half a cup to get anyone drunk," William said with a smile. William moved in on her and kissed her but Yumi pushed him back.

" No. Didn't homecoming teach you anything about me?" Yumi said to him harshly. " Just because you got me drunk, doesn't mean I'm stupid enough to sleep with you." Yumi walked pass him then went to find Ulrich.

" Hey, you're cute," A sophomore said to Aelita. Aelita looked over at him. He was about a year older than her. He'd had some of the punch as well.

" Thanks," Aelita said to him, " So are you."

" Wanna dance?" He asked her. Aelita just nodded, drunk and clueless and was led into the living room and danced with him. They danced for about ten minutes and Aelita felt his hands go down and grab below her waist. Aelita just twitched a little bit. From this he got the wrong idea .

" Want to find a room?" The boy asked her. Aelita just nodded, figuring it was only because he wanted to be alone with her. Aelita was led upstairs to Yumi's parents room. Yumi's room was locked with Ulrich and Yumi inside.

Yumi was crying about how much trouble she was going to be in tomorrow. Ulrich just stroked her hair and wiped her tears as they came. They just lay on her bed as Yumi cried out all of her frustration. Ulrich whispered something in her ear and Yumi nodded at him. Ulrich said he'd go down stairs and dump the punch and tell everyone else to get the hell out.

Ulrich closed and locked Yumi's door so no one wondered in and saw a girl alone. The guys here were dumb enough to try it. He stepped onto the main floor and saw Odd in the living room looking for someone. Ulrich walked to him and looked at him. Odd turned around and saw Ulrich behind him.

" Where's Aelita?" Odd asked over the music.

" Beats me," Ulrich said to him, " Try upstairs." Odd nodded then ran to the stairs and tripped on them. Ulrich sighed then looked at the ground. " Not him too."

Ulrich saw Jeremie at the punch, bored, pouring himself a cup. He ran over and slapped it out of his hand and onto the floor. Jeremie rubbed his hand and looked at him.

" Don't, someone spiked it," Ulrich said to Jeremie.

" Spiked?"

" Put vodka in it. It'll light your ass up like a Christmas tree. Start telling people to leave, party's over," Ulrich said to him. Jeremie nodded and started at his task. Ulrich picked up the bowl and walked over to the sink and dumped it. Then he heard someone behind him.

" Party pooper," William said from behind him. William walked around him and stood in front of him.

" Get out now. I know you did this, so go."

" You can't make me," William said to him. Ulrich smiled at him then cracked his knuckles. William was drunk, this was going to be too easy.

Yumi watched from her window at her street below then heard the music cut off. A moment later William was tossed out on her walk way. Yumi laughed then feel onto her bed as Yumi started screaming at people.

" Get the hell out!" Everyone left, the party was over less then two hours in.

Odd walked around the upstairs then heard voices in the room at the end of the hall. Putting his ear to the door he heard Aelita talking to someone. It was a guys voice.

" Come on, I know you want to," The guy said to her. Aelita shook her head. She was drunk but not that drunk.

" I'm sorry. I'm not ready for that. Not with someone I just meet especially," Aelita said to him then tried to push him off her. They were on Yumi's parent's bed, him on top of her feeling up her shirt. Aelita pushed his hand away from her chest then looked him right in the eye.

" Stop," Aelita said to him. " No means no." Still he was persistent. He started up at her chest again and not even Aelita using force stopped him.

" Stop!" Aelita screamed at him.

" Not today," He said to her. Odd stepped into the room and charged the boy. He cocked a punch back and hit him square in the cheek. He fell off her and onto the ground on the other side of the bed. Odd looked at Aelita and saw she was drunk.

" I'm taking you back to the academy," Odd said to Aelita. Aelita nodded then let him help her out the door. Once she finished vomiting.

* * *

Odd opened the door to Aelita's room and then lay her on her bed. He tried to pull away from her but she grabbed him and pulled him in. When she noticed her door was open she stopped to go close it. She forced Odd to take off his shoes and lay with her.

" I love you Odd," she said, her speak slurred. Odd sighed then got up but Aelita pulled him back down.

" Come on, I know you want to. It's been eating away at you as well. Day after day, without being able to kiss me, hug me. Take a risk Odd," Aelita said to him and kissed him deeper than she usually did.

" Aelita, you're drunk," Odd said to her.

" So are you," Aelita said to him. Odd didn't remember much before he knew he was on top of her making out. It was intense, they were all over each other. It was going to be a weird morning.

* * *

Odd woke up in the morning with the sun glowing on his face. Squinting he opened his eyes and saw he was looking at a wall. He heard his phone go off then looked at the floor. It fell out of his pant pockets when he took them off. Seeing it was Ulrich he pressed answer and placed it on his ear.

" Yeah?" Odd asked Ulrich.

" You two get home alright?" Ulrich asked him.

" Yeah, we're fine. My head is killing me though. I think someone spiked the punch."

" It was spiked. I'm dealing with things here. Helping Yumi with her hangover," Ulrich said then held Yumi's hair out of her face as she vomited into her toilet. Jeremie was still at the house, helping pick things up.

" I'm going to sleep in. My hangover is pretty bad. Though I don't think I'll puke," Odd said then rubbed his face.

" See you later then," Ulrich said to him. They both hung up and Odd put his phone on the ground, then looked a the wall and noticed something. There wasn't an extra bed. It was a one bed dorm room. Looking at he ground he saw an item that looked like pink clothe and picked it up. It was a pair of panties. Next to them was a bra, and Aelita's pink dress. Odd looked at the ground and found the rest of his clothes. Then he felt the bed move.

Odd turned himself over and saw Aelita sleeping soundly next to him. Suddenly he got a very bad feeling.

Odd pulled up the covers slightly and said, " Did we.." He then looked under and saw Aelita's naked body, and his own nakedness. He put the covers back down and Aelita opened her eyes. She looked at him and saw he was shirtless then add things up.

Looking under the covers and saw she was naked so did her best to conceal herself. Then they looked right at each other.

" Oh..." Aelita started.

" ...Shit." Odd finished.


	16. The test

Odd stared at Aelita who stared right back at him. They both said and did nothing for an entire minute. They just stared in silence. Their bodies were covered by Aelita's blanket. Both had a headache from the hangover, but that was already fading away. Something had happened last night and both of them were trying to piece it together in their minds.

_Aelita started to kiss Odd passionately. At first Odd objected to this behavior . One, the situation with them wasn't already bad enough. And two, they were both drunk. Aelita a little more than Odd. As it continued Odd let himself slip into the moment and he began to kiss her back._

_Immediately Aelita pulled the blanket over themselves. Hearts racing, breathing getting deeper as they held on to each other. Aelita felt his warmth against her as she continued to kiss him and cuddle. Ten seconds later uninvited but not unwanted Odd slid his tongue into her mouth where it received a warm welcome. She wanted more from Odd than just this. They'd done this before, she wanted something new._

_Finding the bottom of his shirt Aelita tugged at it to try and pull it up and off. Odd opened his eyes and stopped kissing her. He looked at her hands then back at her face._

" _What are you doing?" Odd asked her. Aelita smiled then pulled harder. Odd didn't have time to fight as his shirt was removed. His undershirt was still on so luckily he wasn't bare just yet. Aelita grabbed that shirt and did the same, revealing his torso._

_Aelita zipped the zipper on her hoody dress down to slid it off her shoulders. Odd had been shirtless for Aelita before but Aelita had never been out of her hoody. It was a little harder considering her hoody was also her entire outfit. Odd grabbed her hands then looked at her._

" _You don't have to do that," Odd said to her. Aelita smiled then pulled the hoody down, the entire thing hitting the floor. Her body's only protection her undergarments. Odd had to admit he did want it off. Respectable as he is he was still a guy. _

" _I want it off," Aelita said to him then lay next to him in the bed. Before her body made contact with the bed Odd analyzed her newly revealed body. He had really never noticed how beautiful she was. Compared to her, Odd felt hideous. Girls in magazines didn't stand a chance to her perfect curves. She wasn't skinny like Yumi, but everything was perfectly distributed. Her pale complexion worked well with her hair color, and nothing was too big or too small._

_What surprised Odd the most about this action was that she didn't blush. Whenever they decided they'd try to take a bigger step in their relationship she'd be nervously blushing. Like the first time Odd took off his shirt, or the first time she offered to take off hers but decided not to at the last second. Not any red was in her cheeks. For a change Odd was blushing, and he knew he was too._

_Aelita lay next to him on the bed then pulled the comforter over them again. Neither were on top of one another. They were just laying down facing each other, staring into each others eyes. Odd shifted his body towards her and Aelita mimicked his action. Sliding his arm under her he pulled her in close and felt the warmth of skin to skin contact._

_Odd looked at Aelita and saw her blush. Not red, but just a enough pink in her cheeks to notice. They smiled at each other then kissed once. When their lips separated they kept their heads closer. The tips of their noses touching. Odd for fun rubbed his nose against her and she smiled and rubbed back._

_Aelita wanted more skin touching so reached under and found his belt. She started to try to undo it before Odd realized her intentions. Odd grabbed her hands then looked at her. Odd was blushing again, not just a little pink, stop light red._

" _Aelita, you're drunk," Odd said to her. Aelita shrugged then unfastened the belt. Odd grabbed her hands again. " You're not thinking straight."_

" _Yes I am. And drunk or not drunk, I know you want them off. I know how a guys mind works," Aelita said then grabbed the end of his belt then pulled. It slid around his waist smoothly then Aelita threw it to the ground next to the bed. Odd felt his pants get looser instantly._

" _Aelita stop," Odd said to her then looked her straight in the eye, " Before we do something we'll both regret."_

Odd didn't remember much from that moment to when he woke up. It was all a vague blur. Small flashes of events from last night passed through his mind one frame at a time. The frames had gaps in between, like a broken film strip but he didn't need all of the pieces to know what the movie was playing. It was obvious. From the flashes he saw this.

' _They were kissing again, he could feel himself completely naked on top of her. She was also completely naked. He couldn't help but admire her figure.'_

' _Odd was on top of Aelita, softly pressing into her. When he went in he felt her grip on him tighten. He kissed her neck then worked his way back to her lips, then made his way to her tongue with his.'_

' _Odd was still gently pressing his body closer to hers. Her grip was tight, and her lips rarely left his. Only to look into his eyes. With every motion Odd made he heard her make a soft sigh of pleasure.'_

After nearly a minute it was the only thing they pieced together. But it was the only evidence they needed. Besides the way the looked, the fact they were naked, and the fact of what they had just remembered they knew what happened. Odd knew it was true. Aelita knew it was true. They had sex last night.

* * *

The next day they went to Yumi's to discuss what had happened. They found it a better idea to talk outside of the school. You never know who's listening around Kadic. Since Yumi was the oldest it was best to go to her. They went up to her room locked the door and sat on her bed.

" Are you guys serious? You actually did it?" Yumi asked shocked when Aelita told her. They both nodded.

" We don't remember much but we remember enough," Odd said to her.

" From what you remember how was it?" Yumi asked them both. She really wanted an inside opinion on sex. Aelita and Odd looked at each other and smiled.

" Pretty good," Aelita answered.

" Did it hurt at all?" Yumi asked.

" Yumi, I was drunk," Aelita said to her.

" Oh, right. Well did you guys wear a condom?" Yumi asked. Odd shook her head and Yumi suddenly got worried.

" Not like she can actually get pregnant, right?" Odd asked Aelita.

" Sorry Odd, but, I, can," Aelita answered then Odd looked at her for nearly a minute.

" Aelita, you do know you're ovulating tonight right?" Yumi asked. To help Aelita with the whole cycle thing Yumi marked both of theirs on her calender.

" That means, it's highly possible," Aelita said scared. Suddenly the thrill from not being a virgin was gone.

" Do you think you might be?" Odd asked her. Aelita shrugged, because they'd just have to find out.

* * *

A week later Yumi and Aelita were shopping . Yumi grabbed a pregnancy test off the shelf then looked at it. Aelita was a week late so they had to find out. She was shaking scared from nervousness since the day it was supposed to start but never did. What if she was?

Aelita left the store as Yumi started to ring up the test. The woman at the counter looked at it then looked at Yumi.

" Is this for your friend?" The woman asked. Yumi sadly nodded and the woman just handed it to Yumi. " Just go," the woman said to her. " I hope it isn't."

" Thank you," Yumi said then left the store. Aelita was leaning against the wall of the store waiting for Yumi to come out. Yumi gestured for them to leave then they headed back to her house. They called up Odd so he could be there as they found out the news. Yumi told Aelita to read the directions and tell her when she was finished.

Odd sat on Yumi's bed with his heart racing. What the hell would they do if she was? She knew Aelita wouldn't get an abortion. She was too fascinated with life to not have it. That would make things complicated as hell. The school would find out, possibly kick her out because they didn't want a pregnant young girl on campus, find out she wasn't his cousin. Social services would be brought in, from there the government, which could leak to the people who are after them. He crossed his fingers it was negative.

Aelita was alone in the bathroom for nearly ten minutes before she opened the door. She looked straight at Odd then walked across the room. She sat next to him then placed face into her palms. She let out a sigh of relief then smiled.

" Negative," Aelita said to them. Both Odd and Yumi sighed at the same time.

" Maybe it was stress that postponed your period. It does happen. I mean you have stress piling on Aelita, so it's more than possible."

" I guess so."

* * *

Later that night Aelita came to Yumi's house just to talk. Yumi usually would like a reason for a friend to visit but Aelita really needed to talk to someone. Her parents were home but said it was alright since it wasn't a boy. They went up into her room and shut the door. The usual routine.

" I've been thinking a lot about that," Aelita said to her.

" About if it said positive instead negative?" Yumi asked as her only guess. Aelita nodded then sat on her bed.

" Some part of me wanted it to say positive. It would be complicated but at least Odd and I would be together. Now we're in hiding again. Hiding our feelings so people don't get suspicious," Aelita said then started to cry. " I can't handle it anymore."

" Just hang in there Aelita."

" I don't want to!" Aelita shouted at her. Yumi jumped, Aelita almost never screamed at people. Let alone her. " You and Ulrich can hold hands, cuddle, kiss. Odd and I can't even do that. I know I need to wait but I don't want to, I can't anymore. After the party I realized I'll crack."

" I'm surprised you got as far as you did without exploding," Yumi said to her.

" Dammit, it's so unfair. Everyday he's right there but barely out of my reach."

" You think Odd isn't restraining himself?" Yumi asked. Aelita stopped, Yumi had a point. She wasn't alone in this. " It's not fair for him either, or anyone. I know it sucks but that's life. Get used to not getting what you want."

Aelita wrapped her arms around her shins and pulled her knees to her face. Aelita buried her face in her knees and could be heard sobbing louder. Yumi sighed then placed a hand on Aelita's back.

" I'm sorry."

" I know, so am I. It's just, you have it easier than I do. So far my entire human existence is a coverup. Fake, meaningless, void. Odd is the only thing that makes me feel human. Wanted, loved, appreciated. I just feel like if I restrain myself eventually we'll stop caring about continuing before we have the chance. And my human feelings go with him."

Yumi sat next to her, then looked at her. She lifted Aelita's chin then made her look at her. " You underestimate your love. And his love. I know it's there. And if what you guys really have is love, then you both should get out of this. If you don't make it, it was lust, nothing more, nothing less. So frankly the only way to prove you love him, is to wait."

Aelita hiccuped then looked at her. Finally she nodded then hugged Yumi. She took her sleeve and wiped the tears off her face the took a deep breath through her nose to keep the snot in there. She hated to say it but Yumi was right. But for the first time she had a more optimistic view on the whole waiting thing. First it was to get the chance to date. Now, it was to prove her love.


	17. Not so safe house

Damien sat in the safe house looking at the glass in his room with fully covered windows. He let out a breath then looked around the safe house room that was quickly becoming to feel like his cell. He couldn't go outside, eat food that wasn't checked, or answer the phone without someone nearby watching. The government guards payed to watch him and protect him sat around the house playing cards and watching tv of old reruns.

Damien's door opened and Dmetrio walked in with a folder. He threw it on Damien's lap as he was laying on his bed looking at his ceiling. " Latest updates," Dmetrio said then sat on his chair.

" What do we got?" Damien asked.

" Well, we managed to seize control of lyoko again before they decrypted carthage. But I think they have some of the software for a wireless link to lyoko like your friend Jeremie. It'll take them longer to decrypt it but they can still get it done. All we can do right now is hopefully trace the link and find the source."

" You've had three weeks and that's all you've come up with?" Damien asked then sat up on his bed while reading the paper work in the folder.

" Sadly, they covered their tracks pretty well, but at least we have some leads," Dmetrio said as Damien handed him the folder.

" What am I doing?" Damien asked, wanting to be involved.

" The same exact thing you've done for three weeks, nothing. Stay alert," Dmetrio said then started to leave.

" Where're you going?"

" To the first lead. Some house in Paris," Dmetrio said then opened the door. " I'll be back more or less in two days." The door shut and Damien was alone again. Damien slowly sighed then leaned against his pillow again. Then he went back to his activity he was working on before Dmetrio came in.

" One dirt stain, two dirt stain," Damien said, continuing to count random things on the ceiling.

* * *

Damien woke up to a knock at the door. Laying up he walked over to his door and listened carefully. Opening his door and walking to the stairs he looked down at two of the government agents readying a gun and the other getting ready to answer the door. One nodded to the other and then the door opened to reveal the delivery man.

" Your total comes to twenty seven thirty," the teenager said to him. The officer opened his wallet and when he did lowered his guard. A man pushed the kid out of the way of the door and placed a gun to the agents head. He fired, killing him instantly and shot the second agent before his gun was level with his eye for aiming.

" Shit," Damien said then crept back up the stairs into his room. The pistol was silenced so no one heard it. Damien rested his back against the door then took a deep breath. Opening his door a creek he saw the man was in a black mask and all black clothing carrying a pistol like he knew how to use it.

" Yep, bad guys," Damien said then looked around his room for anything he could use. The man reached the top of the steps and his boots made the floor creek loudly. Damien knew is time was running short. Seeing his pillow he reached over and took the sheet off it and held it like a rope.

The door was slowly pushed open and the man stepped into the room with the gun up. Slowly he crept into the room, looking for any sign of movement. He noticed the pillow case was off of the pillow so he looked down and examined it. Seeing the window was left open he walked over to it then looked out. A tree was near the window so he figured Damien made a run for it.

" The kid's gone, he went out the window, orders?" The man said into a radio on his belt.

" Find him," a voice said from the other side.

Suddenly the door slammed closed and Damien jumped out from behind it. He wrapped the pillow case around the mans neck from behind and pulled back hard. The man tried to aim his gun around at Damien but with a few good tugs was force to drop it so he could try to fight Damien. After nearly a minute of thrashing around and ramming Damien into the wall, creating a large crack, he started to get dizzy till he eventually fell to a knee. Damien used that to tug harder till the only thing fighting Damien was the mans dead weight.

Damien let him drop then felt his pulse. The man was undoubtably dead. Taking the mans wallet and gun he ran downstairs and by the time he reached the door he heard the mans radio going off.

" What's taking you so long get outside...Carl?" Damien looked out the open door and saw three more men in a car looking at the house. " The kid got him." The man said then exited the vehicle with the other men. Damien aimed up and fired, missing every shot as the men opened the drunk of a the car and came back into view with large machine guns.

" Son of a bitch," Damien said then ran away from the door for cover. The machine guns started to rip through the front door of the safe house. Damien hit the floor then slid into the kitchen belly first then placed his back next to the fridge. The first floor windows shattered, the wood splintered and broke, the front of the house was becoming unrecognizable with every bullet.

After ten seconds of firing they all ran out of ammunition then reloaded. One of the men walked toward the house with his gun up, then stepped into the smoke. He stepped over broken and bruised furniture, and scanned the room for anyone still alive. Seeing Damien's shadow through the smoke he rose his gun to fire, before he heard a car screech behind him.

A car swerved from the street and struck one of the men, sending him sprawling over the car and onto the pavement. The car stopped and the driver left the car and shot the second man before he had any idea what was going on. The third walked to the door and aimed up to shoot him but Damien shot the man in the back before he pulled the trigger. Damien looked outside of the house and saw Dmetrio walking up the path to meet him.

" The other agents?" Dmetrio asked. Damien shook his head and Dmetrio sighed.

" Come on, before more of them show up," Dmetrio said then started to run toward the car. Damien joined him then climbed into the passenger seat.

" Where are we going?" Damien asked.

" Back to the school, your friends are in trouble," Dmetrio answered then drove with his knee while reloading his gun to full capacity. He cocked it loaded then lay it on his middle console.

" What, how?" Damien asked.

" That place in Paris I mentioned, it was the right one. They cracked the encryption and Carthage is almost ready for activation. They're killing the loose ends, your friends included."

" Where's my father?" Damien asked.

" Hell if I know, possible sealing the deal with the terrorist they're selling it to. Some Russian group with access to weapons we've read. We have no choice but to blow lyoko," Dmetrio said to Damien then turned at a street.

" Implosion, or explosion?" Damien asked.

" Implosion, less mess that way," Dmetrio said swerve around a car going ten under in the fast lane.

" How much time do we have?" Damien asked.

" For all we know, they're already dead."


	18. Almost over

A car pulled to the gate of Kadic academy and the man in the passengers seat opened his car door and stepped out. He fixed his shirt then walked over to the gate to where the gatekeeper was. He rang the buzzer and the gatekeeper saw him from his station and put his hat on to investigate. The gatekeeper walked to the man who stood there waiting for him.

"Do you have an appointment?" The man asked.

"The French Government has authorized a search on the campus. Here's the warrant in case you need that as well," The man said then placed his hands behind his back. The gatekeeper nodded then opened the gate. The man entered the car again and the driver drove onto the campus and parked it in front of the building.

"Who are we getting again?" The driver asked the passenger.

"Hopper wants five kids in custody," the man answered then opened their folders. "Ulrich Stern, Yumi Ishiyama, Jeremie Belpois, Odd Della Robbia, and his niece," the man said to the driver. The final bell rang and they waited for the doors to open and the students to pour out.

It took nearly a minutes before the doors opened and children began to stream out of the building. They constantly looked back and forth at the pictures of the group, trying to locate them in the crowd. Most of them would be hard to notice but Aelita could be easily spotted with her hair.

"Found one," the driver said then picked up the picture of Odd. Odd was walking out of the building with Ulrich behind him. The two were talking as they walked and the passenger picked up the picture of Ulrich.

"Got two of them, I'll get them, you look for the other three," The driver said then left the car. His partner nodded and watched as the man followed behind Ulrich and Odd at a safe distance to not be spotted.

* * *

Odd unlocked their door and pushed it open and the two entered the room. They threw their stuff on the individual beds and sat down.

"Jeremie and Aelita have really seemed to be growing apart haven't they?" Ulrich asked then sat on his bed. He still had no idea that Odd and her with together secretly, even if the relationship was on hiatus.

"Maybe she found someone else?" Odd said then heard the door knock. Ulrich got to his feet then answered the door. A man was standing behind it, and he just looked at them.

"Are you Ulrich Stern?" The man asked.

"Uh...yeah," Ulrich asked nervously, already having a bad feeling about him.

"Is Odd Della Robbia in there with you?" The man asked. Ulrich nodded and once he did Ulrich was shoved into the room and the door slammed shut. The man pulled the gun from the back of his waist and aimed it up at them.

"You'll be quiet if you want to live," The man said to them. Ulrich just looked at the man from the ground and Odd was on the bed unable to move. He pointed the gun at Odd and gestured for them both to be on the same side of the room so he could watch them.

"You've kept us searching for quite a while, but we managed to crack your friend's little encryption and the information was just given to us. Be grateful my employer doesn't want you dead just yet," The man said then sat on the bed across from them.

"Why don't you just kill us here?" Odd asked, though he would rather live a little longer.

"Witnesses," The man said with a grin. "The idea is to catch you, take you to the lab, then shoot you. No one would find your bodies and since we have connections no one would ever think it was us."

Then a knock came at the door and the three turned their head. The man smiled then aimed the gun up a little and pointed it at Odd.

"Go on, answer it, if it's one of your friends let them in," The man said to Odd then stood up. The man then leaned against the wall and stood up on the bed to hid. Odd sighed then walked over to the door praying it wasn't someone in particular. He opened the door and Aelita was standing behind it.

"You said you and Ulrich needed help with the math right?" Aelita asked. Odd nodded then tried to gesture for her to leave. "What?"

"Go," Odd lipped to her. Aelita didn't understand and then stared at him.

"What are you trying to say?" Aelita asked. A hand with a gun in it appeared into her vision and tapped Odd in the head. Aelita gasped but the gun cocked and she went silent.

"Get in the room, now," the man said. Aelita stepped into the room and the door was kicked shut. Aelita was shoved onto the bed and hit her head on the wall. Odd pushed the man with all he had in anger.

"Don't you ever touch her!" Odd shouted before the man pulled his arm back and hit Odd with the butt of the gun to the side of his head. Odd fell back and hit his desk chair then hit his head again against the desk.

"Odd," Aelita said then tried to run to him before she was pushed back onto the bed and the gun was raised up once more.

"Be quiet," the man said before his phone rang. He answered his phone then put it to his ear. "I got three of them, do you have the other two?"

"I got one, Belpois, we're going to the girls house now to get her, I'll send a car to get you," the other agent said from the other side. The man hung up. The man aimed his gun up at the three of them and smiled.

"We're going off of the campus to the factory. If you try to run I will shoot, understood?" The man asked. Ulrich and Aelita nodded but Odd was still on the ground throbbing in pain. "Good."

* * *

With the simple point of a gun Ulrich, Odd and Aelita exited the car and started to walk toward the factory. No one was around so no one could see them in this situation to help or call for help. They were on their own this time. Another car was already parked so Ulrich already assumed they captured Yumi and still had Jeremie. They started across the bridge and looked at the trap door as they walked by.

Looking straight down they saw Jeremie and Yumi sitting against a wall with handcuffs behind their backs. Ulrich almost started to run but knew better. Instead of taking the rope the agent led them down the stairs and towards their friends. Ulrich, Odd, and Aelita were placed against the wall like the other two and told to sit down. Ulrich sat next to Yumi and saw that she had been hit in her side because her shirt was up a little and a bruise was visible.

"I tried to play hero," Yumi said then looked at the men.

"Alright, when you're in the elevator, no talking," The first man instructed. They all nodded to show they understood and were then led into the elevator to go into the lab. The doors closed behind them and the elevator started down.

"This is the closing seconds of your lives,"The agent said with a grin before a thump was heard from above them.

"What the hell was that?"The second agent asked.

"Check," The first said then kept his gun aimed up. The second opened the trap door to get to the roof and poked his head above to see who it was, only to get kicked in the face and to collapse floor.

"Come out now!" The first agent shouted then aimed his gun up at the trap. Someone's upper body leaned into the elevator with a gun aimed up and shot the agent between the eyes. He then dropped to the floor then stood up. Aelita turned her head with everyone else and saw who it was.

"Damien!"Aelita shouted then hugged him tightly. Damien patted her back then pushed her out of the way when the elevator started to slow down.

"Against the sides, now," Damien said to everyone. Everyone did as told and when the elevator opened, Damien didn't fire first. The gunshot hit Damien in the gut and made him hit his back against the wall.

His father was standing in front of the computer with his gun aimed straight into the elevator. On the screen of the computer was a video feed of what was going on in the elevator. They had seen him coming.

"Nice try Damien, but this ends now," His father said then took a step toward him. Damien rose his gun up and fired, hitting his father in the shoulder. His father wobbled back and hit his back against the computer, then fired, hitting Damien in the chest. Damien fired again and hit the computer screen, creating a large spark and cracking the now black screen.

His father fired again, hitting him in the chest again, then fired another shot into the side of his neck. Damien fired several more time, hitting the keyboard of the computer, the screen once more, and then his father straight in the head killing him. With what he had left he whipped the gun at the button of the elevator that started to glide up.

"Damien!" Aelita screamed then knelt next to him as he slid down the wall, staining the wall with blood as he did. Damien coughed up blood then looked at Aelita and smiled.

"You're just as beautiful as your mother was, and I'm glad I got to see you again," Damien said with stress.

"Don't talk like it's over Damien, you're going to make, you're going to make it," Aelita mumbled then started to cry.

"Don't cry Aelita, I've been alive for far too long. You're going to be okay," Damien said then took the biggest breath he could. Blood was pooling around him and was now starting to drench Aelita.

"Please, you're the only family I have left. I can't lose you again," Aelita said in tears.

"That's not true," Damien said to her, "Your friends are more family to you than I ever was. You think you're alone Aelita, but you never were, and never will be when they're around."

Aelita turned around and looked at everyone who nodded at her. Aelita turned back around again and looked at Damien. When she did, he was already gone. His eyes had closed, his heart had stopped, and he was already starting to get cold. Then the elevator opened and everyone looked outside and saw Dmetrio.

"God dammit," he said then helped them out. It took two people to pry Aelita away from Damien corpse and they were taken to the ambulance and large police force that had already arrived. It was hard to imagine for most of the them, but, it was close to over.


	19. The unresolved resolution

_**I had no spell check when I wrote this, so bare with me.**_

* * *

It was all over at last. The lab was completely demolished, and everything was in working order again. Later that week after several press conferences and much more the newspaper hit the front gate outside of Kadic. The paper was distrubuted between all of the student who had the most interesting read of their lives.

"_Boarding school students save France. Five students attending Kadic academy have reported to have found a hidden computer server under a large abandoned factory. If not for their find a virus program that was developed on that computer would have been uploaded by terrorists. Officials managed to end the download and trace their roots leading to the capture and conviction of several wanted terrorists. This victory isn't without lose, as a sixth student was involved but was killed shortly before the governement forces arrived, managing to save his friends in the process. The president of France honors these six teenagers and national heroes for dedication to their country._

_'Though as heroic as these children are said to have been, there is a strong romantic side to this story. Aelita Stones, a student at Kadic acadamy was orphaned months before the incident and lived at and attended the school under the impression of being Odd Della Robbia's cousin, thought the two share no relation. In a interview with the two, it was learned that while pretending to be related, the two shared feelings for each other that they had to restrain in order to keep up their charade. The boy who died however, Damien Hopper, was in fact her cousin, and not Odd. Ulrich Stern, a german transfer student was dating Yumi Ishiyama for most of the incident, and Jeremie Belpois the last member of the team was intiatally the one to organize the group._

_'The actions of five teenagers, and the sacrifice of one has prevented a tragidy of unmeasurable damage. The officials are still looking into the case, but for now the loose ends seem to have been dealt with. No terrorist organizations have been identified, but the server has been reported as terminated.'_

Jeremie finished reading the article aloud then rested the newspaper on his lap. He let in a breath of air then exhaled it slowly. Ulrich and Yumi smiled at each other and Odd just rubbed kiwi behing the ears.

"And that's that," Jeremie said with a smile of accomplishment.

"I guess so, it's actually over," Yumi said then leaned into Ulrich. Odd sighed then looked at the roof. Aelita had left with her things earlier that evening. He'd be visiting her in a week to see how she fit in at her new home. The government arranged an adoption for Aelita close to Kadic, so she could still go to school. Yet deeply depressed about not living at the same place as Aelita, Odd had something making him several more times happier. Their relationship could be public.

"So Odd, you're going to start walking with Aelita hand in hand, kissing her between passing periods?" Yumi asked with a smile. Odd just looked at her, then at Jeremie who just nodded as if saying, ' yeah, I know.' Ulrich looked at them and laughed.

"No, isn't that Jeremie'a job?" Ulrich asked aloud because the entire time he was the only one who never knew about Odd and Aelita.

"No, it isn't," Jeremie said to him, "Aelita and I have ended our emotionally inclosed relationship for months now," Jeremie said to him.

"And um, I was kinda dating Aelita for a week or so before I called it off, but then we went at it again, bad things happened, so we put it on the back burner, and now I guess what Yumi said is true," Odd said then stretched. Ulrich looked at everyone and almost laughed, still figuring it was a joke. After he finally realized it wasn't a joke, his smile dropped and he looked down.

"Do you know what's bugging me?" Jeremie asked. Everyone just shrugged then waited for him to continue. "What in the hell ever happened to xana?"

"Yeah, ever since it got out, it hasn't showed up anywhere, why do you think that is?" Yumi asked.

"Maybe Jeremie's theory was right, it's weaker because now it had to self sustain, so it just malfuctioned or something," Odd said, just laying suggestions on the table.

"Maybe it was just trying to clear things up. The first thing I could imagine was xana trying to destroy the computer and all loose ends toward it," Jeremie said to everyone in the room.

"But that happened. The organazation that constucted carthage is disbanded or dead, and Damien and Franz Hopper are gone, so is the computer itself," Ulrich said then leaned into Yumi more, making her smile.

"You don't think this entire time it was playing behind the scenes?" Odd asked.

"I guess we'll never know," Jeremie said then looked at his computer. When the computer went up in smoke, the link crashed, so now it was just an average ordinary computer.

"And besides, who or what could xana of taken over to play directly enough to affect the outcome of this. Maybe xana is actually just gone," Jeremie said then leaned into the wall while sitting on his bed.

"I suppose you're right," Yumi said. Everyone nodded in agreement.

* * *

Aelita rolled her suitcase beind her toward a man and a woman standing on the porch of their home. The man walked down the stairs then helped her bring it up the stairs then into the house. Dmetrio carried of few of her things in and handed them to the peope before walked back to the car. Aelita didn't have much at all, but she had enough to live with. Dmetrio closed the trunk of his car then leaned against it waiting for Aelita to come out again. A minute later she climbed down the porch and walked over to the car.

"So, will I ever see you again?" Aelita asked.

"Probably not," Dmetrio said,"In all honesty, Dmetrio isn't my real name, just a cover. But in the end, Dmetrio kinda rolls off the tonge doesn't it?" He said to her with smile. Aelita smiled back then walked over and hugged him. It took her a minute but she finally started to cry.

"I already miss him so much," Aelita cried into his chest.

"I know kid, Damien was a good person," He said to her, "But he'd did a lot for you. Damien and I arrived at the factory at the same time, but he ran faster to get the elevator to save you. Damien would hate to see you cry, especially over him. Dry your eyes, and live your life now that you can do so without worrying about when a computer is going to complicate things. Be fortunate for that alone. And besides, you got friends right?"

"Yeah, and boyfriend now," Aelita said with a smile. Starting soon Odd and her were officially public.

"Then try to be happy, that's the only thing that makes his death not in vain," Dmetrio said then nudged her away. The man and woman who adopted Aelita smiled at her then looked at each other. They agreed she was cuter in person.

"These are good people trust me. Kyle and Michele shouldn't be too bad. Good luck kid," Dmetrio said then let her go. Aelita walked back to the house where she was greeted warmly by Kyle and Michele Douglas. She would like it here, and it was only three blocks away from Kadic.

Aelita walked into her room then opened her window a moment later and saw that Dmetrio was still there. She waved to him, and he waved back before walking around the car and into the drivers seat. Before putting on his sunglasses she saw something that almost made her heart stop. A small flicker, or something she must have imagined. It was only a split second be she could of swore for that one instant she saw it in his eye. The eye of xana. Dmetrio smiled then started the car, leaving Aelita speechless as he drove off, never to be seen again.

The end.


End file.
